River Is Flowing At Springtime Rate

The calendar may say winter but the Spokane River thinks it’s spring.

The river is flowing at more than three times its normal winter rate, said Gary Stockinger, who keeps track of river flow for Washington Water Power Co.

River flow on Wednesday was 20,000 cubic feet per second, Stockinger said. While such flows are not unusual in the spring, the average winter flow is only about 6,000 cfs, he said.

“It’s not close to a record, but for this time of year, it’s a lot,” Stockinger said.

The river hit 46,000 cfs on Jan. 19, 1974, when some some basements flooded in west Spokane and along Upriver Drive. The highest flow ever recorded was 48,000 cfs in December 1933.

Last summer, the problem was low water caused by a small snowpack and weeks of drought. The river dropped to 450 cfs and its temperature rose to 80 degrees.