Wisconsin River Report - July 25, 2003

Wisconsin River Report

July 25, 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

July Rainfall 50% Below Normal

Total rainfall for the first 24 days of July in the Wisconsin River basin averaged only 1.5 inches, less than half of the 3.1 inches of rain that normally falls during that period according to Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company (WVIC) of Wausau. The central river basin between Tomahawk and Wisconsin Rapids was particularly dry with only 1.3 inches of rain, almost 60% below normal. July marks the second consecutive dry month this summer following 30% below normal rainfall in June.

The flow of the Wisconsin River continued to fall last week because of the dry conditions. The average river flow at Merrill fell to 1,700 cubic feet per second, 22% below the July normal. The flow at Wisconsin Rapids of 2,400 cfs was 26% below normal and at Muscoda near the river’s mouth the flow of 4,500 cfs was 36% below normal.

WVIC’s reservoir system was used to provide 51% of the regulated river flow at Merrill and 47% of the regulated river flow at Wisconsin Rapids. Storage in the reservoir system dropped 4% last week and now stands at 75% of capacity. Water levels in the five large reservoirs now range from almost 3 feet to over 4 feet below full and continue to fall at the rate of 6 to 8 inches per week. Water levels in some of the northern natural-lake reservoirs are also dropping below the summer target levels because of the deficient rainfall.

Air temperatures remained below normal again last week. The weekly average temperature of 64 degrees at the Willow Reservoir near Minocqua was 2 degrees below the seasonal normal. At Wausau the weekly average temperature of 66 degrees was 4 degrees below normal and the weekly temperature of 71 degrees at Prairie du Chien was 3 degrees below normal.

The water temperature in the Wisconsin River averaged 73 degrees, 2 degrees below the seasonal normal.

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	4.1	-0.7	Eagle River	N/A	404	Upper Basin	0.24	15.38	-1.59
Willow	3.4	-0.8	Tomahawk	1,663		Central Basin	0.09	14.82	-2.15
Rice	2.7	-0.7	Merrill	1,703	2,164	Temperature
Spirit	3.1	-0.6	Rothschild	1,930		Location	Ave.	Normal	+/-
Eau Pleine	2.9	-0.6	St. Point	2,412		Willow Reservoir	64	66	-2
Reservoir Storage			Wis. Rapids	2,395	3,239	Wausau	66	70	-4
Northern	72%	-5%	Petenwell	2,159	3,600	Prairie du Chien	71	74	-3
Overall	75%	-4%	Muscoda	4,473	6,962

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