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Wisconsin River Report May 8, 2003

Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company 2301 North Third Street Wausau, WI  54403 For more information contact Sam Morgan Phone: 715.848.2976, ex 301 Email: morgan@wvic.com

 

Rains Return to Wisconsin River Valley

 

After a 10-day dry period, rainfall returned to the Wisconsin River basin early this week according to Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company of Wausau. The heaviest rains were reported in the central basin from Tomahawk south to Wisconsin Rapids where about 1.3 inches fell. In the northern basin the rain was lighter with about 0.75 inch reported. Total precipitation for calendar year 2003 is running just slightly above normal throughout the basin. More rain is forecasted for the upcoming weekend – as much as two inches in some areas in the northern portion of the state.

 

River flows responded to the rains and rose above the seasonal normals by mid-week. The flow of the Wisconsin River at Merrill, which had dropped to a summer-like level of 2,100 cubic feet per second (cfs), rebounded to over 4,000 cfs after the rains. At Rothschild the flow of the Wisconsin rose from 3,000 cfs before the rain to over 8,000 cfs and the flow at Wisconsin Rapids rose from 3,500 cfs to almost 11,000 cfs.

 

The northern reservoirs continued to fill last week. The Rainbow Reservoir near Lake Tomahawk rose almost 2 feet and is expected to reach the full mark in the next few days. The Willow Reservoir near Hazelhurst also started to fill again, but is still 3.1 feet below the full mark. The other three of WVIC’s five major reservoirs; Rice (Nokomis), Spirit, and Eau Pleine remain full. Overall storage in the reservoir system rose another 4% last week to 85% of capacity.

 

 

Reservoir Water Levels			River Flow			Precipitation
Location	Feet Below Max	Weekly Change (Ft.)	Location	Weekly Average (cfs)	Monthly Normal (cfs)	Location	This Week (In.)	Annual Total (In.)	+/- Annual Normal
Rainbow	0.8	+1.7	Eagle River	N/A	618	Upper Basin	0.76	7.36	+0.28
Willow	3.1	+0.4	Tomahawk	2,012		Central Basin	1.29	7.41	+0.33
Rice	0.3	-0.1	Merrill	3,057	3,100	Temperature
Spirit	0.1	+0.2	Rothschild	5,104		Location	Ave.	Normal	+/-
Eau Pleine	0.1	+0.1	St. Point	6,427		Willow Reservoir	48	52	-4
Reservoir Storage			Wis. Rapids	6,203	6,492	Wausau	49	57	-8
Northern	80%	+5%	Petenwell	6,159		Prairie du Chien	51	61	-10
Overall	85%	+4%	Muscoda	11,155	12,353

 

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