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000 AXUS75 KRIW 151334 DGTRIW WYC003-013-017-019-023-025-029-035-037-039-043-151345- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY 734 AM MDT MON SEP 15 2008 ...MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT PERSISTS ACROSS SOUTHWEST WYOMING... SYNOPSIS... THE LATEST U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR FOR WYOMING RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 11 SHOWED THE AREA OF MODERATE /D1/ TO SEVERE /D2/ DROUGHT HAD REMAINED UNCHANGED SINCE JULY. THE AREA CLASSIFIED AS SEVERE DROUGHT WAS CONFINED TO THE NORTHWEST TWO-THIRDS OF SWEETWATER COUNTY AND SOUTHEAST LINCOLN COUNTY. MOST OTHER AREAS IN SOUTHWEST WYOMING WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE UPPER GREEN RIVER BASIN REMAINED IN MODERATE DROUGHT. THE NORTHEAST QUARTER OF WYOMING WAS FREE OF DROUGHT WITH MOST OF NORTHWEST WYOMING CLASSIFIED AS ABNORMALLY DRY. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... STATE AND LOCAL ACTIONS. NO DROUGHT IMPACTS WERE REPORTED ACROSS WEST AND CENTRAL WYOMING DURING AUGUST AND THE FIRST HALF OF SEPTEMBER. RIVER AND STREAMFLOW CONDITIONS. STREAMFLOWS IN THE MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT AREAS OF SOUTHWEST WYOMING WERE MOSTLY NEAR NORMAL. ONLY THE GREEN RIVER NEAR LA BARGE WAS RUNNING BELOW NORMAL COMPARED TO A 30 YEAR AVERAGE. FIRE WEATHER IMPACTS. THE TWO LARGEST WILDFIRES OF THE SUMMER...THE GUNBARREL FIRE 40 MILES WEST OF CODY AND THE NEW FORK FIRE 19 MILES NORTH OF PINEDALE...WERE LEFT SMOLDERING AFTER EARLY SEPTEMBER RAINS BROUGHT OVER ONE INCH OF PRECIPITATION TO THESE FIRES. FIRE CREWS WERE MOSTLY MOPPING UP HOT SPOTS ON THESE FIRES AND AREA CLOSURES HAD BEEN LIFTED. THE GUNBARREL FIRE WAS 85 PERCENT CONTAINED AS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH. EARLY SEPTEMBER PRECIPITATION HELPED MITIGATE CRITICAL FUEL CONDITIONS ACROSS WEST AND CENTRAL WYOMING. THE EAST SLOPES OF THE WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS WAS THE ONLY AREA STILL CLASSIFIED AS CRITICAL OR AS HAVING FUEL CHARACTERISTICS FAVORABLE FOR LARGE FIRE GROWTH AS OF SEPTEMBER 10TH. FIRE RESTRICTIONS...THE BLM HAS SPECIFIC BURNING RESTRICTIONS IN EFFECT ACROSS JOHNSON COUNTY AS WELL AS NORMAL YEAR-ROUND RESTRICTIONS. CHECK WITH THE BUFFALO BLM OFFICE FOR SPECIFIC RESTRICTIONS IN JOHNSON COUNTY. THESE ARE THE ONLY KNOWN RESTRICTIONS IN EFFECT BY FEDERAL AGENCIES. MOST OF WYOMING/S COUNTIES HAVE YEAR-ROUND RESTRICTIONS REGARDING FIREWORKS...BURNING NOTIFICATIONS...ETC. PLEASE CONTACT SPECIFIC COUNTIES FOR INFORMATION REGARDING ANY RESTRICTIONS. CLIMATE SUMMARY... PRECIPITATION FOR AUGUST WAS HIGHLY VARIABLE DUE TO TYPICAL HIT-AND- MISS THUNDERSTORMS WITH PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS ACROSS WEST AND CENTRAL WYOMING RANGING FROM A TRACE AT A FEW LOCATIONS IN THE EASTERN BIG HORN BASIN TO 4.58 INCHES AT AFTON. AREAS IN SEVERE DROUGHT ACROSS SOUTHWEST WYOMING MOSTLY HAD BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION IN AUGUST...BUT AN ESTIMATED 1 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER THE AREA SINCE SEPTEMBER 1ST. THE ROCK SPRINGS AIRPORT HAS RECEIVED 1.27 INCHES OF RAIN DURING THE FIRST HALF OF SEPTEMBER. WYOMING HAD THE 41ST DRIEST AUGUST OVER A 114 PERIOD OF RECORD...OR NEAR NORMAL PRECIPITATION OVERALL. WYOMING ALSO HAD THE 31ST WARMEST AUGUST ON RECORD...OR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES OVERALL. BELOW ARE THE TOTAL PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS FROM SELECTED LOCATIONS ACROSS WEST AND CENTRAL WYOMING FOR AUGUST 2008... LOCATION AUGUST PRECIPITATION % AVERAGE -------- -------------------- --------- CASPER (AIRPORT) 0.72 99 LANDER (AIRPORT) 0.84 147 RIVERTON (AIRPORT) 0.59 137 * ROCK SPRINGS (AIRPORT) 0.26 45 ^ BIG PINEY 1.14 143 BUFFALO 0.09 10 CODY 0.88 98 DUBOIS 0.65 76 * FLAMING GORGE 0.10 N/A * FONTENELLE DAM 0.50 69 * FOSSIL BUTTE NAT MON 0.13 12 * GREEN RIVER 0.60 95 JACKSON 0.17 13 KAYCEE 0.36 41 * KEMMERER 1.50 138 LAKE YELLOWSTONE 0.41 24 * LA BARGE 0.44 50 MAMMOTH (YELLOWSTONE) 0.30 32 OLD FAITHFUL 0.23 44 POWELL FIELD STATION 0.18 35 RIVERTON DOWNTOWN 0.51 104 * ROCK SPRINGS 0.42 N/A THERMOPOLIS 0.07 14 ^ WAMSUTTER 1.01 N/A WORLAND T 0 * LOCATION IN SEVERE DROUGHT /D2/ ^ LOCATION IN MODERATE DROUGHT /D1/ PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOKS... THE 8 TO 14 DAY OUTLOOK VALID SEPTEMBER 21ST THROUGH THE 27TH CALLS FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS ALL OF WYOMING WITH THE GREATEST PROBABILITY ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF THE STATE. BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION IS FORECAST OVER THE SOUTHWEST HALF OF WYOMING SEPTEMBER 21ST THROUGH THE 27TH WITH THE NORTHEAST HALF EXPECTED TO RECEIVE NEAR NORMAL PRECIPITATION. THE OUTLOOK FOR OCTOBER...NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER CALLS FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS ROUGHLY THE EASTERN TWO-THIRDS OF WYOMING OR EAST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE AND EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE...BELOW OR NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE WEST. THE PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK FOR THIS SAME PERIOD CALLS FOR EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE...BELOW OR NORMAL PRECIPITATION...OR NO CLEAR CLIMATE SIGNAL...ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS WERE OBSERVED IN THE PACIFIC DURING THE SUMMER AND THESE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE END OF 2008 INTO SPRING 2009. MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE OR INTENSIFY OVER SOUTHWEST WYOMING THROUGH NOVEMBER 2008. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... FONTENELLE RESERVOIR WAS 81 PERCENT FULL. DURING THE APRIL THROUGH JULY PERIOD FONTENELLE RECEIVED 582000 ACRE-FEET INFLOW...WHICH IS 68 PERCENT OF AVERAGE. BASED ON THE LATEST INFLOW FORECAST FROM THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN FORECAST CENTER...INFLOWS WILL BE SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE THROUGH THE FALL AND WINTER MONTHS. BOYSEN RESERVOIR WAS 85 PERCENT FULL...PATHFINDER RESERVOIR WAS 34 PERCENT FULL AND BUFFALO BILL RESERVOIR WAS 82 PERCENT FULL AS OF SEPTEMBER 13. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15 2008 OR SOONER IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS. && RELATED WEB SITES... ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/... LOCAL DROUGHT INFORMATION. WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/RIW/HYDRO/DROUGHT.PHP WYOMING DROUGHT STATEMENT WITH GRAPHICS. WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/RIW/HYDRO/DROUGHT_INFO.PDF NATIONAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE SNOW SURVEY WWW.WRDS.UWYO.EDU/WRDS/NRCS/NRCS.HTML NATIONAL INTEGRATED DROUGHT INFORMATION CENTER. WWW.DROUGHT.GOV NOAA DROUGHT INFORMATION CENTER. WWW.DROUGHT.NOAA.GOV CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER WWW.CPC.NOAA.GOV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER...THE USDA...STATE AND REGIONAL CENTER CLIMATOLOGISTS AND THE NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION CENTER. INFORMATION FOR THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS AND FAA OBSERVATION SITES...STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES...THE USDA...USACE AND USGS. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT... ARTHUR MEUNIER CLIMATE/DROUGHT FOCAL POINT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 12744 WEST US HIGHWAY 26 RIVERTON, WY 82501 TELEPHONE...307-857-3898 ............800-211-1448 EMAIL...ARTHUR.MEUNIER@NOAA.GOV $$
