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Yellowstone, other area streams approach record low-water levels By LORNA THACKERAY Of The Gazette Staff The water gauge in the Yellowstone River at Billings measured a depth of 2.6 feet on Monday – the lowest it’s been on this date since 1988.
In fact, it’s the seventh lowest it’s been since record-keeping began at the site in 1929. With the exception of 1961 and 1988, the other low-water years all occurred between 1931 and 1940, the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Flow at the gauge was only 2,240 cubic feet per second Monday morning – about half the normal Aug. 21 flow of 4,490 cfs. “You see stuff like that during the winter," Virgil Middendorf, meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Billings, said Monday while surveying river statistics from the U.S. Geological Survey. “This is like what you see in February when the river is normally at its lowest. Sometimes you see it higher in February.” The lowest recorded flow at the Billings stream gauge on Aug. 21 was in 1934, when it bottomed out at 1,400 cfs. In 1988, the benchmark year for more recent droughts, the river got as low as 1,740 cfs on that date. Bad as it is this year on the Yellowstone, it was worse in 1988, Middendorf said. This year, Yellowstone Park, the source of the river that stretches through much of southeastern Montana, got some rain during the summer. In 1988, the park was bone dry and a good chunk of it burned. A little further to the north, however, residents along some stretches of the Musselshell River probably consider 1988 the good old days. At Roundup, the flow Monday was measured at 10 cfs. It was 16 cfs on the same date in 1988. The median flow for Aug. 21 is 185 cfs. It’s the driest year ever in the 54 years of record keeping at Roundup, Middendorf said. Only 1961 offered a challenge. The stream gauge measured 11 cfs that year on Aug. 21. At Harlowtown, the Musselshell recorded only 11 cfs Monday, compared to the normal Aug. 21 flow of 50 cfs. In 1988, the Musselshell was dry at Harlowtown. Although comparison figures were not available for every community on the Musselshell, the summer of 2000 has furnished only a tiny fraction of the water most along its bank normally see. It measured 29 cfs at Lavina Monday, compared to its normal late August flow of 212 cfs, and 6.5 cfs at Musselshell, compared to a normal 133 cfs. At Mosby it isn’t running at all. Keith Hill, ditch rider for the Upper Musselshell Water Users Association, said he still has small amounts of irrigation water left in the Bair and Martinsdale reservoirs, but there isn’t enough flow in the Musselshell to deliver it to his customers. “There’s not much rolling," he said. “We’re hoping for a bit of moisture to get things moving again." Like most stockmen in the drainage, he’s been struggling to find enough water and grass for his cattle. Since June 1, his rain gauge south of Shawmut has recorded a total of 1.4 inches of moisture. “There was good reason why nothing grew," he said.
On the other end of the Musselshell River, officials in the tiny community of Melstone are imposing restrictions and growing concerned that their water supply will run dry. City Clerk Kim Walker said the town is contemplating what it will take to haul and store enough water for the 76 customers on the system and how to pay for such a costly operation. Although the town tried to avoid restrictions, they have become necessary. Residents can water every other day on an alternating schedule. Watering is banned on Sundays to refill the tank. Residents are limited to watering four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening. Walker said she hopes the shortages don’t result in a complete ban on watering. The town is dotted by vacant lots covered in flammable brown grass. The green lawns in between act as a barrier to fire. Across the northcentral and northeastern part of the state, the Milk River continues to flow – but just barely across most of its long reach. At Havre, the gauge reads only 94 cfs, compared to its normal 573 for this time of year. A local resident said children could wade across. At Harlem, the Milk was running at 36 cfs, when it normally measures 406 cfs this time of year. The brightest spot in southcentral Montana is the Bighorn River system, where conservative operation of Yellowtail Dam has kept water in the river and full recreation in Bighorn Lake. Tim Felchle, Montana reservoir operations chief for the Bureau of Reclamation, said releases into the Bighorn River have been maintained at about 2,300 cfs throughout the summer – the minimum level necessary to maintain the health of the Blue Ribbon fishery below the dam. With those releases, Reclamation has been able to maintain enough water in the reservoir for full recreation this summer, and Felchle said he expects water levels to hold up through Labor Day weekend. Bighorn Lake level is about 89 percent of normal for this time of year – pretty fair considering that at its peak this spring, the lake topped out a 5 feet below the full mark. Canyon Ferry on the Missouri near Helena is getting close to its minimum full recreation level, but has another 2 or 3 feet to go. Releases there have also been kept low through the summer. Lorna Thackeray can be reached at (406) 657-1314, or by e-mail at lthackeray@billingsgazette.com
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