Wisconsin River Report - November 13, 2003

Wisconsin River Report

November 13, 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

Light Rains Halt Reservoir Drawdowns

Light rains in early November and reduced water losses to vegetation and evaporation combined to raise the flow of the Wisconsin River slightly and stop the drawdown of the Wisconsin River Reservoir System according to Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company (WVIC) of Wausau. Rainfall so far in November has totaled about 0.75 inch in the northern Wisconsin River Basin, 1.2 inches in the central portion of the basin, and over 2 inches at many locations in the southern basin. Normal rainfall for the first half of November is about one inch.

Storage in WVIC’s system of 21 reservoirs, used to control the flow of the Wisconsin River, remained steady last week at 42% of capacity. This is the first week since early June that reservoir storage did not decline. However, reservoir storage is still well below the seasonal normal of 60% of capacity.

While river flow increased last week because of the rains, it remains well below normal because of the drought conditions experienced in the basin during the summer and fall of 2003. The average flow of the Wisconsin River at Merrill this week of 1,309 cubic feet per second (cfs) was 30% below normal. At Wisconsin Rapids the river flow was 50% below normal, and near the mouth of the river at Muscoda, the flow was 35% below normal. Unless significant rainfall occurs yet this fall, river flows are expected to remain about 50% below normal throughout the winter season.

Because of the continued low river flow, generation at the 25 hydroelectric power plants on the river is also running about half of the seasonal normal. Hydroelectric generation is also expected to remain low throughout the winter season without additional fall rains.

Temperatures were below normal throughout the basin for the past week. Nighttime lows dipped into the single digits for three consecutive days in the central and northern basins and into the teens in the southern basin. Despite a warming spell at the end of the week that saw daytime highs reach into the low- to mid-50’s, weekly average temperatures were still one to four degrees below 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	6.8	+0.8	Eagle River	347	556	Upper Basin	0.07	24.22	-4.08
Willow	8.8	+0.5	Tomahawk	1,322		Central Basin	0.04	20.70	-8.31
Rice	6.9	+0.2	Merrill	1,309	1,877	Temperature
Spirit	7.5	+0.1	Rothschild	1,579	3,260	Location	Ave.	Normal	+/-
Eau Pleine	12.0	-0.1	St. Point	1,944		Willow Reservoir	28	29	-1
Reservoir Storage			Wis. Rapids	1,742	3,944	Wausau	28	32	-4
Northern	45%	+1%	Petenwell	1,926	4,300	Prairie du Chien	33	36	-3
Overall	42%	N/C	Muscoda	5,063	7,887

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