Governor Talks Snow Pack - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Governor Talks Snow Pack

Governor Jack Dalrymple convened a meeting of river managers and weather forecasters today, trying to get everyone on both sides of the border on the same page regarding this year's flood outlook.

Jim Olson reports on the meeting.

(Curt Zimbelman, Minot Mayor) "I'm nervous..."

That's how Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman described his mood - and the mood of many people in Minot wondering about the potential for flooding this year. But the figures released by water managers from Saskatchewan and North Dakota indicate it's not so much a concern in the city of Minot, where levees offer more protection.

(Alan Schlag, National Weather Service Hydrologist)

Schlag produces the bi-weekly flood outlooks for North Dakota. His counterpart in Saskatchewan told the group that the concern there is not so much the snowpack above the Rafferty and Alameda Dams, as it is with the area downstream of the dams where the river leaves the province and heads into the US. Another concern for this spring is the late arrival of warm weather. Schlag says that can cause rapid runoff and create overland flooding not related to the river itself.

(Alan Schlag, National Weather Service Hydrologist)

As for the state of the Canadian dams in preparing for the spring, Saskatchewan officials report that the reservoirs are where they need to be to handle to expected runoff. About 400 CFS of water is currently being released from the Canadian dams. At Lake Darling, the new, higher releases have dropped the level of the reservoir below it's spring operating level, making room for more water and the gates were opened this week to release 450 CFS. Even with all of the early maneuvers to diminish the flood potential, Mayor Zimbelman told the governor he's still uneasy.

(Curt Zimbelman, Minot Mayor) "I'm nervous..."

Jim Olson, KX News.

The National Weather Service will be issuing it's newest flood outlook tomorrow.