The updated 2024 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 0.4 million acre-feet, 56 percent of average.
Runoff was well-below-average due to much-below-normal temperatures over the whole Missouri River Basin and below-normal precipitation over most of the upper basin. John Remus of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says, “The runoff into the reservoir system was well-below average for January,” adding, “This fact in conjunction with the below-average plains and mountain snowpack indicates a below-normal runoff year for the basin.”
The 2024 calendar year runoff forecast above Sioux City is 18.8-million-acre feet, 73 percent of average. To conserve water in the system, releases from Gavins Point Dam are scheduled to be 13,000 cubic feet per second this winter while still serving the needs of the municipal, industrial and powerplant water intakes along the lower river.