Forecasters expect another above-average runoff year along the Missouri River.
Current conditions, including soil moisture, plains and mountain snowpack, as well as long-term temperature and precipitation outlooks forecast runoff to be 36.9 million acre-feet, 143 percent of average, for the upper Missouri River basin above Sioux City, Iowa for 2020.
Average annual runoff for the upper basin is 25.8 million-acre feet.
Gavins Point releases were decreased from 38,000 cubic feet per second to 35,000 this week as tributaries downstream of Gavins Point began to rise due to the melting of the plains snowpack in South Dakota.
The potential for above-average runoff in the upper basin, coupled with continued high river stages on many of the uncontrolled tributaries downstream of the reservoir system, increases the potential for flooding, particularly in the lower river.
Many farmers along the Missouri River are still recovering from flooding in 2019 that started in March of last year.
