530 PM CDT<\/p>\n
Tue Apr 19 2022<\/p>\n
INCLUDES STUTSMAN COUNTY<\/p>\n
…HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK FOR SNOWMELT AND UPCOMING WEATHER…<\/p>\n
An unusually strong April storm has left most of North Dakota with
\nan above normal amount of snow, and more importantly…water
\nequivalent in that snow for this time of year. Something unusual for
\nhaving this much snow in the spring snowmelt season is that the
\nsnowpack is sitting on relatively warm soils. Additionally, there is
\nyet another multi-day rain and snow event expected to arrive in the
\narea during the latter half of this week.<\/p>\n
The current heaviest snowpack up in the Souris River basin is also
\nfavored for some of the strongest impacts from the upcoming rain and
\nsnow event. In that sense, the biggest threat is from rain on top of
\na melting snowpack, and there is a distinct risk of this taking
\nplace Thursday into Friday, before turning into snow late on Friday
\non into Saturday. The net effect of rain on a snowpack that is
\nbeginning to melt is the enhancement of melt rates and the
\nmagnification of the amount of liquid water that will be split
\nbetween infiltration and attempted runoff. The reason this will be
\ncalled attempted runoff is because ditches and natural drains are
\nlargely filled with the deeper snowpack and the pathways for runoff
\nare not established. This will likely cause a ponding of water in
\nditches and low-lying areas with little movement of that water into
\nthe nearby rivers and streams.<\/p>\n
Later on in the weekend, more snow and lower temperatures will again reach the area and try to again block any pathways for runoff that were established. In short, this will be a very dynamic period of rain, ponding of water, perhaps some runoff getting to streams, all before cooler temperatures and snow try to put the breaks on any runoff. Working in favor of flood risk mitigation is the generally thawed and permeable soils which will largely temper runoff as it`s being generated.<\/p>\n
Central North Dakota in the Prairie Pothole Region, plenty of snow In the western part of North Dakota, near the Montana border and on Lastly, basins such as Painted Woods, Apple and Beaver creeks that All that being said, as rain enters the region over the coming days, 530 PM CDT Tue Apr 19 2022 INCLUDES STUTSMAN COUNTY …HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK FOR SNOWMELT AND UPCOMING WEATHER… An unusually strong April storm has left most of North Dakota with an above normal amount of snow, and more importantly…water equivalent in that snow for this time of year. Something unusual for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-weathernews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247189,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247188\/revisions\/247189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand its associated water equivalent have already seen a browning of
\nthe hilltops and windblown areas that had the lower overall snow
\ncover. This browning of the countryside is due to a slow melt of the
\nsnowpack and infiltration of the meltwater into the underlying
\npermeable soils. Just like in the Souris River Basin, much of the
\nPrairie Pothole Region, including the James River Basin, has many of<\/strong>
\nthe ditches and natural drains filled with drifted in snow.<\/strong> This
\nwill again delay any runoff of rain and melting snow from getting
\ninto the rivers and streams in the area. Overall, the James River<\/strong>
\nbasin below Jamestown is less favored for the higher precipitation <\/strong>totals during the latter half of the week and this is also reflected <\/strong>in having an overall lower risk of flooding, although ponding of <\/strong>water should still be considered a reasonable outcome which can <\/strong>impact rural roads.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nover to the Missouri River, drifted-in drainages are also expected
\nto hinder initial conveyance of any potential rain or snowmelt
\nrunoff from easily getting to the rivers and streams of the area.
\nAlso, this area of the state is favored to see more precipitation in
\nthe form of snow than rain. Nonetheless, this is also the area of
\nthe state currently favored for some of the higher precipitation
\ntotals and this will eventually have to melt, but once again warm
\nand permeable soils are expected to minimize runoff at least well
\ninto the weekend.<\/p>\n
\ndrain portions of the state east of the Missouri River are currently
\nseeing a gentle melt of existing snow. Little to none of this melt
\nhas been showing up in the ditches and natural drains thus far, and
\nthat trend is expected to continue until such time as the snow and
\nice blocking them are thawed and the melt rate or combined rain and
\nsnowmelt runoff exceed the infiltration capacity of the underlying
\nsoil.<\/p>\n
\none should keep in mind that rain on top of snow can significantly
\nenhance overall liquid water available for creating runoff. Most of
\nthe natural drains and road ditches will take time to clear enough
\nto allow conveyance of any runoff, so ponding of water is a very
\ndistinct risk going forward. Overland flooding is not out of the
\nquestion, and the probability of minor flooding of streams going
\nforward is certainly not zero.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"