Thursday, Part II -- June 25, 2015

I guess this is why I was surprised by the earlier stories that hydroelectric power was struggling across the US, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. There had been reports of a fair amount of spring run-off this year. Yes, I know the two are unrelated, but ...

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

Spring rainfall that boosted the flow of the Bighorn and Powder rivers, both tributaries to the Yellowstone River, has prompted a reduction in releases from Fort Peck Reservoir in northeast Montana.

Fort Peck backs up the Missouri River, but the Missouri and Yellowstone flow into Lake Sakakawea, just over the border in North Dakota.

With the Powder River hitting a peak of about 9,000 cubic feet per second earlier this month and the Bighorn still cranking out about 13,900 cfs, it was decided to cut the flows from Fort Peck to help offset the heavier flows into Sakakawea from the Yellowstone River basin. The Yellowstone River at Sidney peaked at about 60,000 cfs in the first week of June.

Fort Peck’s elevation was 2,237 feet on Wednesday with releases from the dam at 9,400 cfs instead of the 10,000 cfs that was planned last month.

For those interested, this is the link to the daily Garrison Dam releases (a dynamic link).  Today's scheduled release: 21,000 cfs. This takes me back to one of my favorite posts. Google "Garrison" at the blog to see a fair number of posts on Garrison Dam releases, such as this one. I guess I have a "Garrison Dam" tag also.

Don sent me the link years ago and it remains one of my favorites.