Upper Yellowstone and Madison River Basins (2)
March 2001

Snow
Snowfall in these basins this year has been well below average for this time of the year. Snow water equivalent (SWE) is about 53 percent of average (59 percent of last year) in the Madison drainage. SWE in the Yellowstone drainage is about 57 percent of average (62 percent of last year at this time). See the "Snow Course Basin Summary" at the beginning of this document for more details on specific sites.

Precipitation
February precipitation in the Madison and Yellowstone drainage was about 78 percent of average (63 percent of previous year) for the 6 reporting stations -- percentage range was from 57 to 114 percent of average. Water- year-to-date precipitation is about 63 percent of average (74 percent of last year's amount). Year to date percentage ranges from 43 to 85 percent

Reservoir
Ennis Lake is storing 30,600 acre-feet (69 percent of capacity) - 90 percent of average. Hebgen Lake is storing about 295,400 acre-feet of water (66 percent of capacity) - 119 percent of average. Ennis Lake is storing about 109 percent and Hebgen Lake is storing about 92 percent of last year's volume.

Streamflow
All the following forecasts are the 50 percent chance runoff for the April through September runoff period. Yellowstone at Lake Outlet is expected to yield about 440,000 acre feet (56 percent of normal). Yellowstone at Corwin Springs will yield about 1,250,000 acre-feet (65 percent of normal). Yellowstone near Livingston will yield about 1,435,000 acre feet (64 percent of normal). Hebgen lake inflow is estimated to be 355,000 acre feet (73 percent of normal). See the following page for detailed runoff volumes. 

 

==================================================================================================================================
                                             UPPER YELLOWSTONE & MADISON RIVER BASINS
                                               Streamflow Forecasts - March 1, 2001
==================================================================================================================================
                                              |  <<====== Drier ======  Future Conditions  =======  Wetter =====>>  |             
                                              |                                                                     |
  Forecast Point                     Forecast |  ==================== Chance Of Exceeding * ======================  |
                                      Period  |    90%       70%    |  50% (Most Probable)  |      30%       10%    |  30-Yr Avg.
                                              | (1000AF)  (1000AF)  |   (1000AF)  (% AVG.)  |    (1000AF)  (1000AF) |    (1000AF)
====================================================================|=======================|=====================================
YELLOWSTONE at Lake Outlet           APR-SEP       333       396    |      440        56    |       516       627            792
                                                                    |                       |
YELLOWSTONE RIVER at Corwin Spgs.    APR-SEP      1085      1182    |     1250        65    |      1351      1499           1937
                                                                    |                       |
YELLOWSTONE RIVER near Livingston    APR-SEP      1255      1367    |     1435        64    |      1547      1711           2241
                                                                    |                       |
HEBGEN Reservoir Inflow              APR-SEP       270       321    |      355        73    |       389       440            486
                                                                    |                       |
==================================================================================================================================
                UPPER YELLOWSTONE & MADISON RIVER BASINS                |        UPPER YELLOWSTONE & MADISON RIVER BASINS
             Reservoir Storage (1000 AF) - End of February              |        Watershed Snowpack Analysis - March 1, 2001
==================================================================================================================================
                                      Usable |  *** Usable Storage ***  |                            Number     This Year as % of
Reservoir                            Capacity|  This      Last          |   Watershed                  of       =================
                                             |  Year      Year     Avg  |                          Data Sites   Last Yr   Average
========================================================================|=========================================================
ENNIS LAKE                              41.0     30.6     28.2     34.1 |   MADISON RIVER in WY         9        59        53
                                                                        |
HEBGEN LAKE                            377.5    295.4    320.6    247.8 |   YELLOWSTONE RIVER in WY    12        62        57
                                                                        |
==================================================================================================================================
 * 90%, 70%, 30%, and 10% chances of exceeding are the probabilities that the actual volume will exceed the volumes in the table.

The average is computed for the 1961-1990 base period.

(1) - The values listed under the 10% and 90% Chance of Exceeding are actually 5% and 95% exceedance levels.                  
(2) - The value is natural volume - actual volume may be affected by upstream water management.
To March 2001 Basin Outlook Report Contents Page