3/26/2024
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
Severe drought rating in the northwest
Wind gusting to 45 mph
Water news for Tuesday, March 26, 2024 updated 144 pm
National Weather Service Hazardous Weather Outlook issued 1257 pm EDT March 26
Gusty Winds Continue This Afternoon...Gusty southerly winds with gusts of 35 to 45 MPH will continue
this afternoon. Unsecured objects may be blown around and driving may be difficult in high profile vehicles.
Impacting Wood-Ottawa-Sandusky-Erie-Lorain-Cuyahoga-Lake-Geauga-
Ashtabula Inland-Hancock-Seneca-Huron-Wyandot-Crawford-Richland-Marion-Morrow-Ashtabula Lakeshore-Including the cities of Bowling Green, Perrysburg, Port Clinton, Oak Harbor, Genoa, Fremont, Bellevue, Clyde, Sandusky, Huron, Lorain, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Avon Lake, Cleveland, Mentor, Willoughby, Eastlake, Painesville, Willowick, Wickliffe, Chardon, South Russell, Bainbridge, Chesterland, Middlefield, Burton, Jefferson, Orwell, Andover, Roaming Shores, Findlay, Tiffin, Fostoria, Norwalk, Willard, Upper Sandusky, Carey, Bucyrus, Galion, Crestline, Mansfield, Marion, Mount Gilead, Cardington, Ashtabula, Conneaut, and Geneva.
Streamflow Situation provisional data supplied by USGS
Below normal to low flows across the state Tuesday, very few streamflow gauges detecting seasonal normal values today. Four monitors record extreme low flows Tuesday, 1st percentile including Blanchard River as measured near Findlay, Loramie Creek near Newport, Shade River near Chester and Eagle Creek at Phalanx Station.
As many Ohio drinking water facilities are supplied from surface water bodies including lakes, rivers and reservoirs, the streamflow situation is pertinent to both drinking water supply and quality. High flows can stir up sediment and cause turbidity in the raw source water, requiring additional treatment to render the water potable. Low flow volume is linked to shallower conditons and warmer temperatures in surface water bodies, which can be an issue for water quality where HABs are present.
WTOH.us tracks current streamflow conditions with an eye to the impacts on drinking water supply and quality in 32 watersheds of the state's 5 drainage basins. Check the watershed layer on the map to see the high and low streamflows that may be impacting drinking water water in Ohio today.
Drought Map USGS 7-day average streamflow against seasonal average
Low flow Blanchard River watershed has descended into the severe drought rating overnight, still measured in 1st percentile near Findlay. Moderate hydrologic drought ratings are expanding, claiming watersheds in the Upper Ohio minor tributaries and Muskingum River basin. Upper Ohio minor tributaries Little Beaver Creek and Raccoon-Symmes waterheds join Shade River watershed at moderate drought rating on Tuesday.
The rest of the state surface area has fallen below normal on the drought map even as south wind gusts up to 50 mph today, further drying the landscape. The watersheds as yet unrated on the drought map are located in the west Lake Erie drainage basin. St Marys and St Josephs Rivers, Cedar Portage and Lower Maumee watersheds remain clear of a drought rating, along with Black-Rocky Rivers watershed in the Lake Erie drainage basin of north-central Ohio.
Flood Tracker provisional data from USGS streamflow monitors
Thirty-five streamflow gauges record flood stage in continental USA Tuesday, up from thirty-two this morning. WT is tracking fourteen of these locations, three in New York, six in Georgia and five in Louisiana.
In New York, Hudson River is flooding at Piermont while Great South Bay is flooding at Lindenhurst and West Sayville. See black tags for active flooding.
Louisiana records flooding on the same five monitors as reported yesterday. In Region 1 watershed in the northwest, Bayou Dorcheat runs less than a foot and a half over flood stage near Springhill, while Bayou Bodcau is more than six and a half feet over flood stage near Shreveport and rising. In Region 4 in the southwest, Sabine River is six inches above flood stage near Ruliff, TX. In the east, Region 7 Pearl River is flooding now less than a foot over near Bogalusa and just short of two feet above flood stage at Pearl River.
Georgia has retired a second flood monitor today. Alabaha River is no longer flooding at GA-203 near Blackshear as of 1015 am EDT and Altamaha River is no longer flooding near Everett City, as of noon hour today. Satilla River is still flooding at GA-158 near Waycross, Little Satilla River is back to flooding near Offerman and the blackwater Ohoopee River is once again flowing over flood stage near Reidsville after a five day hiatus. Altamaha River is still flowing a foot over the minor flood stage level near Baxley. Savannah River is three inches over flood stage at Burtons Ferry Road near Millhaven and up to four feet out of the channel near Cylo.
See black tags on the map for flood levels updated daily and a running timeline of the March 2024 flood event here: WaterToday Georgia
USGS Provisional Data Statement
Data are provisional and subject to revision until they have been thoroughly reviewed and received final approval. Current condition data relayed by satellite or other telemetry are automatically screened to not display improbable values until they can be verified.
Provisional data may be inaccurate due to instrument malfunctions or physical changes at the measurement site. Subsequent review based on field inspections and measurements may result in significant revisions to the data.
Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it for decisions that concern personal or public safety or the conduct of business that involves substantial monetary or operational consequences. Information concerning the accuracy and appropriate uses of these data or concerning other hydrologic data may be obtained from the USGS.
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