Milk River Basin - Water Supply Forecasts

Below average natural runoff volumes are forecast for the March to September 2005 period in the Milk River basin (Table 2). Current forecasts in the basin range from 65 to 69% of the median, 30 to 35% higher than volumes recorded during the March through September 2004 period. For the Milk River at Milk River, current forecasted values for the March to September 2005 period would rank 27th lowest in 91 years of record (1912-2001). The February forecasts are significantly lower than last month's due to the early melting of the snowpack and below to much below normal precipitation during January.