High Water Levels in June 2004 |
| QUESTION: | |
Why were water levels high again in June 2004?
|
| ANSWER: | |
Inflows to Lake of the Woods had been starting to fall off in early May and it appeared that the lake
would start to slowly decline. Then a large snow/rain event hit the basin on May 11-12. This storm
dropped over 100 mm of mostly rain on the southern part of Lake of the Woods and about 75 mm of
mostly snow with some rain at the north end. Continuing rainfall events through the month worsened
conditions and set a May rainfall record (highest since 1900) for the Lake of the Woods local basin.
The Rainy/Namakan and Lac Seul/English River basins were also impacted, with both ranking 4th on
record for May rainfall. As a result the inflows to the lakes increased greatly and the lake
levels rose rapidly in spite of large increases in outflow. The increases in outflow in turn
raised the levels of the rivers below the lakes.
|
Top Ten May Rainfalls
| Since |
1900 |
|
|
Since |
1900 |
|
|
Since |
1914 |
|
|
| |
Rainy-Namakan
Basin |
|
Lake of the Woods Basin |
|
Lac Seul Basin |
| |
|
May Rainfall |
|
|
May Rainfall |
|
|
May Rainfall |
| Rank |
Year |
(mm) |
(in) |
Rank |
Year |
(mm) |
(in) |
Rank |
Year |
(mm) |
(in) |
| 1 |
1977 |
137.5 |
5.4 |
1 |
2004 |
149.4 |
5.9 |
1 |
1941 |
137.7 |
5.4 |
| 2 |
1985 |
132.5 |
5.2 |
2 |
1999 |
148.8 |
5.9 |
2 |
2001 |
133.2 |
5.2 |
| 3 |
1999 |
128.3 |
5.1 |
3 |
1962 |
144.0 |
5.7 |
3 |
1959 |
131.8 |
5.2 |
| 4 |
2004 |
125.3 |
4.9 |
4 |
2001 |
140.5 |
5.5 |
4 |
2004 |
125.0 |
4.9 |
| 5 |
1962 |
122.0 |
4.8 |
5 |
1985 |
135.1 |
5.3 |
5 |
1985 |
120.0 |
4.7 |
| 6 |
2001 |
121.7 |
4.8 |
6 |
1998 |
130.3 |
5.1 |
6 |
1998 |
118.0 |
4.6 |
| 7 |
1963 |
121.6 |
4.8 |
7 |
1977 |
126.5 |
5.0 |
7 |
1969 |
115.0 |
4.5 |
| 8 |
1950 |
118.1 |
4.6 |
8 |
1930 |
121.7 |
4.8 |
8 |
1954 |
112.4 |
4.4 |
| 9 |
1970 |
117.7 |
4.6 |
9 |
1927 |
116.8 |
4.6 |
9 |
1916 |
109.3 |
4.3 |
| 10 |
1974 |
115.5 |
4.5 |
10 |
1938 |
114.6 |
4.5 |
10 |
1962 |
105.7 |
4.2 |
| |
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|
| Median |
|
59.5 |
2.3 |
Median |
|
57.3 |
2.3 |
Median |
|
52.9 |
2.1 |
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