Corps New Forecast for Sakakawea (July 2009)

Corp says we'll top out at 1840.1 for July.  At the moment, the lake is sitting at 1839.24 so that means we are only going to see a rise of .86 for the month.  Don't think that's going to hold.

The upper basic says 1841.8 will be the July rise.  Not sure if I believe that or not either.  The lake has been filling constantly but at some point the rise will level off.  Word is plenty of snow yet in mountains and the flow from rivers should be constant.

Hope so, the Corp says we'll be down to 1830 by February.  Not liking that number one bit.  Gonna drop us 9 feet?  I like the upper basic of a 4 to 5 foot drop but still, not sure if we'll go down that much unless the project orders are to dump water hard.

Fort Peck is expected to gain another five or six feet according to the Corp forecast.  However, their upper basic says they gain 10 feet (weird).  If Peck got another five or six feet they'd be only 8 to 10 feet below normal pool and if they get the upper basic then they will only be five feet below normal!  That would mean our runoff from this year filled two reservoirs and almost filled another.  Not bad for below average plains snow pack .

Hopefully the Corp will maintain water as best they can.  Time to manage with the times and with the water we have...not what they expect we are going to have.  Well, I guess I'd like them to manage for their basic forecast as that would require them to control gates with watchful eyes.