How low will ND & MN rivers go

Drought conditions are showing no sign of letting up across North Dakota.  The latest drought monitor shows 97.8% of the state in severe drought….52.3% in extreme…and 10.4% in the exceptional drought category.

The lack of rain is also hitting lakes…rivers…and streams hard. The Red River in Grand Forks – East Grand Forks has slipped below 15 feet.  The flow on the “Red” has also slowed to 375 cubic feet per second.

Greg Gust of the NWS office in Grand Forks says much of the water in the Red River is coming from the dam at the Lower Red Lake and from the Devils Lake outlet.  He says waterways lacking a reservoir are slowly drying up. “If I were to look up and down the river from north of Fargo most streams are running at the 10th percentile or less.  That’s a pretty low flow.  Except for the releases coming from reservoirs a lot of these rivers would be nearly not flowing.”

KNOX Staff Meteorologist Mark Ewens says the prospects of significant precipitation the remainder of the summer and heading into fall are not looking good.

The Red Lake River at Crookston is just over three feet.