POSTED BY ERIC SPRAGUE ON MARCH 7, 2019

Thursday March 7, 2019:  McPhee is currently releasing 40 CFS for the downstream fishery. Releases in April will be planned later in March using CBRFC’s mid-month runoff forecast.

The CBRFC runoff forecasts for the McPhee basin have been growing rapidly through the season, and have surpassed the historical average runoff. More, the current snowpack is already greater than the historical average according to the SNOTEL sites in the basin. While it is still unlikely that there will be a spill (or managed release) in 2019, there is currently estimated to be a 10-15% probability of a small “fill-and-spill” type release occurring later during the runoff season this year, around late May at the earliest. Please note that this possibility is predicated on the continued higher-than-average precipitation as a result of the active atmospheric conditions this season as well as an average runoff pattern in the Dolores River basin.

We will continue to monitor conditions and will update this page in April with preliminary downstream release projections for the 2019 Water Year.

CBRFC Website: https://www.cbrfc.noaa.gov/wsup/graph/front/espplot_dg.html?year=2019&id=MPHC2