MINOT – The breaking up of ice in the Souris River provided interesting viewing Thursday evening but the minimal flow in the Souris stayed well within the banks throughout the city.
Despite a sudden rise in temperatures, this runoff season for the Souris is sizing up to be one of the tamest in many years. Gauges on the sometimes cantankerous river have already begun to drop significantly after an initial burst of snowmelt entered the drainage.
Lake Darling has been rising slowly, mostly due to a very warm start to the week that ignited a rapid runoff. However, the reservoir above the city remained slightly below its preferred summer operating level of 1,597 feet early Friday.
Outflow from the reservoir, which had been only a trickle, was upped to 200 cubic feet per second Friday morning. That minimal amount will likely be little noticed, if at all, as it flows through Minot. For comparison purposes, water in the Souris exceeded 30,000 cfs in the historic flood of 2011.
“I think you are on the backside of at least the initial melt,” said Allen Schlag, National Weather Service hydrologist in Bismarck.
Schlag said all of the Canadian runoff has yet to fully enter the Souris River Basin but noted that runoff was expected to be minimal. Saskatchewan reservoirs remained below their summer operating levels Friday and were not releasing water.
Downstream of Minot the situation along the Souris is somewhat different but not so much as to raise significant alarm. The Wintering River, which enters the Souris at the J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge, reached minor flood stage Thursday and is forecast to remain near that level through the weekend.
“Things are reasonably quiet,” said Schlag. “The Wintering River is where kind of the emphasis is right now. It looks as good as a person could probably hope for. We’re obviously going to see some flooding along the Towner reach of the Souris, but it will be indistinguishable from the flood irrigation techniques used there.”
