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  • Below average runoff continues for the upper Missouri River Basin in 2023

    The updated 2023 calendar year runoff forecast for the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, continues to be below average. January runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City was 1.1 million acre-feet, 134% of average. Runoff was above average due to warmer-than-normal temperatures in the upper basin resulting in some snowmelt runoff.

  • Through fair or foul weather: A history of the Mill Creek Project

    In 1931, a torrent of brown water roared down Mill Creek, with water levels rising at a rate of one foot per hour. The water escaped the confines of the riverbanks and rushed through the City of Walla Walla, destroying homes, roads and bridges. Born in the wake of this disastrous event, the Mill Creek Project now stands to protect the city from floods like this.

  • Dry Conditions expected to persist for the Missouri River Basin

    For the 2022 calendar year, Missouri River basin runoff above Sioux City, Iowa totaled 19.3 million acre-feet, 75% of average. This was the 30th lowest annual runoff for the Missouri River Basin in 125 years of record-keeping. The ongoing drought shows little relief in sight and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicts runoff into the mainstem reservoir system will remain below normal. For 2023, runoff in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City, Iowa is forecast to be 20.8 MAF, 81% of average.

  • USACE Holding C&SF Flood Resiliency Study Planning Meetings Jan. 11-12 in Fort Lauderdale

    The Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will hold a two-day planning charrette meeting for the Central and South Florida (C&SF) Flood Resiliency Study on Jan. 11-12 in Fort Lauderdale. Options for virtual and in-person attendance will be provided.

  • Releases from Gavins Point Dam reduced to winter rates

    Flow support for the 2022 Missouri River navigation season ended Nov. 21 as releases were reduced toward winter rates at Gavins Point Dam. “Releases from Gavins Point Dam are being reduced to the winter release of 12,000 cubic feet per second,” said John Remus, Chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.

  • Automation of Gridded HEC-HMS Model Development Using Python: Initial Condition Testing and Calibration Applications

    Abstract: The US Army Corps of Engineers’s (USACE) Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) rainfall-runoff model is widely used within the research community to develop both event-based and continuous rainfall-runoff models. The soil moisture accounting (SMA) algorithm is commonly used for long-term simulations. Depending on the final model setup, 12 to 18 parameters are needed to characterize the modeled watershed’s canopy, surface, soil, and routing processes, all of which are potential calibration parameters. HEC-HMS includes optimization tools to facilitate model calibration, but only initial conditions (ICs) can be calibrated when using the gridded SMA algorithm. Calibrating a continuous SMA HEC-HMS model is an iterative process that can require hundreds of simulations, a time intensive process requiring automation. HEC-HMS is written in Java and is predominantly run through a graphical user interface (GUI). As such, conducting a long-term gridded SMA calibration is infeasible using the GUI. USACE Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) has written a workflow that utilizes the existing Jython application programming interface (API) to batch run HEC-HMS simulations with Python. The workflow allows for gridded SMA HEC-HMS model sensitivity and calibration analyses to be conducted in a timely manner.

  • 22-073 USACE and Mill Creek Flood Control Zone District sign Project Partnership Agreement

    Walla Walla, Wash. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, and Mill Creek Flood Control Zone District signed a Project Partnership Agreement for the Mill Creek Section 205 Project on November 21.

  • Gavins Point Dam releases to be reduced to winter release rate in late November

    Six public meetings were held during the week of Oct. 24 to present current hydrologic conditions and the planned operation of the Missouri River mainstem reservoir system for the remainder of 2022. The public meetings were held in six locations in the Missouri River basin and a virtual public meeting was held Nov. 3. The meetings included draft plans for regulating the system in 2023. “We will continue to make releases from Gavins Point Dam to provide flow support at a level 500 cubic feet per second above minimum service, through the end of the navigation flow support season,” said John Remus, chief of the USACE, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “The flow support season will end three days early, on Nov. 28, at the mouth of the Missouri River.”

  • Corps, Maricopa County leaders celebrate completion of repairs to 5 federally constructed channels in Arizona

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District leaders visited the New River Dam Outlet Channel Oct. 24 in Florence, Arizona, to recognize the completion of a project that restores the capability of five federally constructed channels in Maricopa County.

  • Drought conditions worsen in upper Missouri River Basin

    The time for the Fort Peck meeting was updated to 11 a.m. Due to scheduling conflicts, the St. Louis meeting has been canceled. September precipitation was once again below average in the Missouri River Basin. September runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa was 0.6 million acre-feet, 47% of the long-term average. Soil conditions in the upper Missouri River Basin continue to be very dry. According to the Drought Mitigation Center, over 90% of the Missouri River basin is currently experiencing some form of abnormally dry conditions or drought, which is almost a 20% increase from the end of August.