Tag: MF Salmon
4 Rivers Snow & Flow Update
Here’s a snow & flow update for the Salmon, MF and Selway rivers and a Lochsa Bonus. Current snow conditions are displayed with analog years mentioned in previous posts. Streamflow forecast are from the NWS around Jan 20 and compared to observed runoff the analog years. January 15 is consider the half way point for winter. Overall the snow is in good shape because of the great start, but more snow is need after this dry January as show in image below.
Beginning of January Snow Comparison to More Years
With more snow accumulating in our mountains, let’s look at how this year compares with other years that follow Strong El Nino Years. In the past, we’ve had some good snow and flow years following Strong El Nino Years. The easiest way to explain this is – it seems the oceans and atmosphere has a lot of energy to get rid of the following year. Let’s see if we can still use the past to predict the future and how the snow is tracking.
Here’s our new table of Strong and Very Strong El Nino Years and the years that follow. You can quickly see by the color shading that only a few are below 80% of average, and rest are near average, above average or outstanding with greater than 150% of average runoff.
Here’s the big picture for the Salmon River. This snow index is based on about 20 SNOTEL sites. It also shows that this year, 2025, is tracking these years that follow a Strong El Nino Year.
Looking at Hoodoo Basin which has daily SWE starting in 1967 also shows it was a good snow year. Interesting to note that Pete’s analog years were also 1967, 1993 and 2017 which all followed Strong El Nino Years.
Flow & Precipitation Update – Aug 21, 2024
With some moisture moving in this weekend, we’ll soon see which rivers benefit from the moisture and which basins the moisture helps to slow the fires progress. This update has a few weather outlooks, and projected flow graphs along with comparisons to see how the Aug 6 flow projections preformed. Projections were pretty good. Rivers are easier to project when they are approaching their seasonal lows for the year.
August 6 Flow Update – how low will they go
MF has leveled off flowing less than last year and similar to 2016. The headwater of the Snake River is pushing record low flows based on 40 years of data. Salmon Falls Creek is usually one of the first rivers to bottom out in late summer / early fall and the flow starts increasing with the longer, cooler nights and reduced water up take from plants.
MF & Main Salmon Update
Here’s an update based on current info. We’ll see later today and tomorrow how high these rivers peak. Here’s a link to previous post to project flow levels on your launch date for MF & Selway. Give it a try and see if still works after the peak has occurred. No cheating, wait for the peak… and play it safe. https://snowweatherandflow.blog/2022/06/19/mf-salmon-and-selway-rivers-recession-flow-estimation-tool-for-use-after-peak-flows-have-occurred-and-river-is-in-full-recession/
MF & Main Salmon Update
With the return of warm temps, rivers are rising again. The last cold front slowed the melt down to a few tenths per day and increased to 1.4″ yesterday with temps reaching 67 F at Deadwood Summit. With these yoyo like temps and some precipitation remaining in forecast, expect a few more ups n downs in flow levels before full recession starts.
3 Rivers Lottery Snow2Flow Update
Here’s an update for the MF, Main, Lochsa and Selway Rivers showing there’s enough remaining snow to generate another increase in flow the next few days. This may be the last week of cooler/wetter spring weather with forecasts hinting at warmer/nicer weather for June’s arrival. Keep an eye on the sky watching the weather, and your mouse on snow melt and river levels pages as we see how high the rivers rise from this pulse of water coming out of the mountains. Enjoy & be safe !
Snow Weather and Flow 