Water headed for Sakakawea?



Bfishn

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Keep it coming! Sak is currently at 1831', with current inflow of 51k. The Yellowstone alone at Billings is running that right now so we may see inflows of 75k+ by end of week. We may get lucky and gain a few more feet yet this year. :;:rockit
 

Weekender

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Speaking of water levels, has anyone used the East ramp at Ft. Stevenson (DeTrobiand)? It was pretty shallow coming out of there last fall just curious of what it is like now.
 

shorthairsrus

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Yellowstone River is expected to rise past 14 feet and approach the
crests seen during 2011 flooding

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ask and you shall receive.
 

Shockwave

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I watched a few youtube videos of Rock Creek in Red Lodge. The flooding is consuming the town and taking out bridges. It's not looking good for the people in those areas. In addition, Paradise Valley is flooding and being evacuated and Yellowstone Park has now been evacuated and closed. So yeah, I would say we have some water coming.
 


Bfishn

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livm8_hg.png
 
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Allen

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Indeed, there is some water in the system and that is a good thing. The bad thing is that this looks like it will be a fairly short event. In the past it was common to see the Missouri River near Williston above flood stage for weeks at a time.

Here's the forecast for the Yellowstone at Billings:
National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service

And what it will likely mean for the Missouri near Williston:
National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service


One thing about high water (in case you are doing the math) is that it has a bit of a "slinky" effect. The farther downstream it goes, it stretches out a pretty fair amount due to friction and you just end up seeing a longer period of lower flows.

Nonetheless, it's good to see some water coming in above the discharge and evap out of Sak. I got my feet wet a couple times over the weekend as the water was rising and courtesy dock management left a little to be desired. The fishing was awesome though!

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Note, there isn't a flow listed on the hydrograph for the Missouri at Williston because it's usually in some form of backwater from Lake Sakakawea which would keep a lot of people confused on just how much water was coming into the lake.
 

tikkalover

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I have always said the world would die without water. Any water that comes into the Missouri river system is welcomed. But you guys that have high hopes of a big increases in elevation on the big lake, because of flooding on the Yellowstone river, need to remember that with the size of Sakakawea it will be like you pissing in a 5 gallon bucket with hopes of filling it up.
 
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CatDaddy

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I have always said the world would die without water. Any water that comes into the Missouri river system is welcomed. But you guys that have high hopes of a big increases in elevation on the big lake, because of flooding on the Yellowstone river, need to remember that with the size of Sakakawea it will be like you pissing in a 5 gallon bucket with hopes of filling it up.

So you're saying there's a chance? I'm pretty sure I've had a few pisses that felt like they would've come close to filling a 5 gallon bucket. The kind where you start peeing, someone comes into the bathroom, and you're still peeing after they leave. Usually happens on a long road trip when I just want to get home.....
 

Greenhorn

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Speaking of water levels, has anyone used the East ramp at Ft. Stevenson (DeTrobiand)? It was pretty shallow coming out of there last fall just curious of what it is like now.

i went out that side memorial day weekend and did fine with our 16ft boat.
 


buckhunter24_7

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For the people who argued with me about snow pack out in the mountains I told you so
 

Allen

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For the people who argued with me about snow pack out in the mountains I told you so


LOL, you must have missed the part of where this is primarily a rain caused flood. I believe Yellowstone Park officials referred to the rains as "unprecedented".

Nonetheless, heavy snowpack across the mountainous headwaters area for the Yellowstone River have historically caused the Missouri River to rise above flood stage for weeks or even months at a time. This flood is being caused by rain and melting snow. So while being terrible for the upstream folks, it is most likely going to cause the Missouri River near Williston to rise above flood stage by roughly 1.6 ft and keep it there for less than a week.

Sorry, it just is what it is...

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Yellowstone National Park closed because of hazardous flooding and rockslides (nbcnews.com)

While a couple inches of rain doesn't cause an awful lot of terrible flooding out here on the prairie, steep terrain and rocky surfaces makes for a pretty solid runoff out in the Rockies.
 

shorthairsrus

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steep terrain along with ground being frozen = mortgage invester / insurance company going no no no no Born and bred in CA guy getting out of MT.
 

shorthairsrus

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Will insurance cover? Most likely not out of 100 year flood parameters. More gov money to help the former forneys
 


SLE

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LOL, you must have missed the part of where this is primarily a rain caused flood. I believe Yellowstone Park officials referred to the rains as "unprecedented".

Nonetheless, heavy snowpack across the mountainous headwaters area for the Yellowstone River have historically caused the Missouri River to rise above flood stage for weeks or even months at a time.................


I would be willing to digress a little further even. Much of the snowpack that accumulated in that basin this year came very very very late. I would have to look back at the snowtel and check totals and dates but we skipped another trip out west this year to ride sled because during the prime months of Jan, Feb, and March they were way below average (70-80%) snow pack. Then came April and May and mother nature opened up a few more times bringing the total up to about average snow pack. The gauge station that I watch didn't hit a 100" till mid April, and then it stayed that way for a month with little melt due to a below average temps this spring. Back up two weeks ago to memorial day and they had to again close the Bear-tooth highway due to a snow storm that left 6-8 ft drifts on the road which didn't reopen until June 9! And then add several inches of rain on top of the snow, and now above average temps, and you have a recipe unprecedented runoff with rain and an extremely rapid snow melt. I only know most of this as I watch the Fisher Creek and Beartooth Lake snowtel gauges and weather reports for Cooke City pretty close hoping they'd get enough snow to cover all of the landmines so we could make a trip out west to ride.
 

Bfishn

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Yeah as a whole peak snowpack was below average, but it came late and then because of an unusually cold spring the melt has been very slow. Now as we get into summer, you have thunderstorms dumping heavy rains on top of the unusually late snowpack and it all comes down at once...boom record floods!
 

wjschmaltz

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I would be willing to digress a little further even. Much of the snowpack that accumulated in that basin this year came very very very late. I would have to look back at the snowtel and check totals and dates but we skipped another trip out west this year to ride sled because during the prime months of Jan, Feb, and March they were way below average (70-80%) snow pack. Then came April and May and mother nature opened up a few more times bringing the total up to about average snow pack.

This was my observation as well. I follow Big Sky's social media and they were getting pounded with storm after storm after the season closed. They are trying to do construction on a new tram this year and are struggling because of all the new snow and weather that isn't allowing chopper ops. The pictures at 13,000 feet look like nothing has melted.
 

shorthairsrus

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Exactly when it rained it snowed up top. That snow is still coming. This wknd isnt gonna stay. Lrc were going back down on temps.
 

ndlongshot

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I'm so sick of hearing "unprecedented". Ya, in human times....blink of an eye. Nature is gonna nature. Always has, always will.
 


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