Spring water levels.

[Al Agnew]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:00 PM, fishinwrench said:

I know one thing......or at least I think I know it.....This is the first year in my memory of the daffodils, and this pretty bush in my yard (whatever it is) ever going into full-bloom during the month of March. 

Lilac and Dogwoods haven't even started though.   Kinda odd, isn't it?

And all the oaks in my area are still holding on to 1/2 of last year's leaves. 

I've lived long enough and have been aware for long enough about when things bloom that I can tell you that redbuds have almost always started to show color the first week of April around where I live.  This spring they were at least THREE weeks early.  The dogwoods are always blooming by about a week and a half after the redbuds are in full bloom but before they start to show green leaves.  So far I haven't seen any sign of dogwoods blooming; probably the mostly cooler than normal weather the last week or so has slowed them.

You can easily check to see how low the rivers are compared to what they normally are this time of year by comparing present flow in cfs to the median flow.  You can also compare the flows to the record low flow for today's date.  Here are some highlights from checking just now:

Niangua above Tunnel Dam:  today 257 cfs, median 1040 cfs. That's a record for the date, previous record low flow was 316 cfs.

Gasconade at Hazelgreen:  336 cfs, median 986 cfs.  That's way above the record low flow for this date of 90.6 cfs.

Meramec at Sullivan:  466 cfs, median 1409 cfs.  Record low flow is 287 cfs.

Black above Annapolis:  258 cfs, median 641 cfs.  Record low is 157 cfs.

Current at Van Buren:  1050 cfs, median 2260 cfs.  Record is 620 cfs.

James near Boaz: 173 cfs, median 1170 cfs.  Record is 110 cfs.

While only the Niangua is showing a record low, ALL those streams are below the 25th percentile, which means that they are lower today than they've been over more than 75% of the years on record.  So yup, they are definitely a lot lower than normal.

[jdmidwest]

El Nino has been pushing the moisture thru here lately.  This one has struggled to produce a tenth of an inch here today.  High winds blew most of the droplets on east.

Plowed my big garden at the farm yesterday.  Hope the dry spell ends, I need a good mess of sweet corn and okra this year.

[MObassin95]

I think the most recent rain bumped up March precipitation to about average or even above average for some places. 
 

I don’t mind a drier spring because I know that flooding can disrupt the Smallie spawn in the rivers.