Region’s rivers hit record low flows

RIVERS — Local staff at the National Weather Services has compiled sobering data from the USGS WaterWatch on the amount of water trickling out of our mountains and into our iconic creeks and rivers.

Early melt off of our of below average snowpack in the Pacific Northwest, combined with below average precipitation since April, has pushed streamflows to record low levels for this time of the year.

The Inland Northwest generally sees its lowest streamflows of the year in late September or early October.

The table below shows the latest observed streamflow and the previous record low streamflow for June 23.

• This year’s record low flow for the St. Joe River smashes the previous record low for the iconic cutthroat stream set in 1926!

Many more streams that are not listed in this table are in their lowest 10th percentile of flow on record for June 23.

USGS Streamgage — New Low Flow | Old Low Flow (Yr) | Years of record

NORTH IDAHO AND EASTERN WASHINGTON

Boundary Creek 58cfs  |   83cfs(1940) |  87

NF Coeur d’Alene 115cfs  |  149cfs(1992) |  64

Coeur d’Alene 576cfs | 667cfs(1940)  |  82

St Joe 681cfs | 940cfs(1926)  | 96

St Maries 67cfs | 73cfs(1992)     | 49

Spokane* 993cfs | 1580cfs(1992) | 124

EAST CASCADES

Similkameen 1580cfs | 1720cfs(1940) | 86

Andrews Ck 17cfs | 24cfs(1992)      | 47

Methow 1350cfs | 1390cfs(2001)  | 56

Stehekin 1320cfs | 1550cfs(2005)  | 93

Entiat 352cfs  | 377cfs(2005)     | 57

Wenatchee 1210cfs | 1410cfs(2005)   | 91

Chiwawa 401cfs | 566cfs(1941)     | 41

Icicle 235cfs | 439cfs(2005)     | 56

Some gages may have gaps in the historical record that could include historic low flows.

*Gage with a significant dam upstream.

• River and lake level forecasts and observations can be found on the Advanced Hydrologic Predicition Service website .
• Water supply forecasts can be found on the Northwest River Forecast Center website .