1997 floods in the Red River of the North and Missouri River basins in North Dakota and western Minnesota

Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M.

doi:10.3133/ofr97575

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The geomorphological characteristics of the basin will be reviewed, and an integrated assessment of the climatological and hydrological conditions during the winter of 1996 to 1997 will be presented to gain a real-world understanding of the physical basis of severe flooding in this region. This paper differs from other studies of 1997 flooding in the northern Great Plains (Macek-Rowland, 1997;North Dakota State Water Commission, 1997) by being more comprehensive in scope, focusing only upon the Red River of the North basin, emphasizing the physical processes that control snowmelt flooding, and discussing the role of flood forecasting and response.…”

Section: Flood Hydroclimatologymentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Normal annual snowfall ranges from 75 cm in the west to 130 cm in the east, with the highest normal totals found in the extreme east and northeast of the basin. Snowfall totals for the winter of 1996 to 1997, therefore, were between 200 and 225 percent of normal across the entire drainage basin, with totals as much as 300 percent of normal in the southeast (Macek-Rowland, 1997). The record snowfall totals were attributable to the exceptionally large number of blizzards that occurred and to an unusually large number of Alberta lows that produced significant snowfall amounts (Figure 4).…”

Section: Winter Snowfallmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The large number of weather disturbances, the magnitude of the individual contributing events, and the exceptionally high cumulative totals are clearly seen in this mass curve ( Figure 4). Total snowfall for the basin varied from 150 cm in the northwest and northeast, to as much as 280 cm in the southern regions (Macek-Rowland, 1997). Normal annual snowfall ranges from 75 cm in the west to 130 cm in the east, with the highest normal totals found in the extreme east and northeast of the basin.…”

Section: Winter Snowfallmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In April 1997, the Red River of the North experienced a catastrophic regional flood that far surpassed any previous flood in the historical record (Macek- Rowland, 1997). Twenty-one of 34 National Weather…”

Section: Flood Hydroclimatologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The peak discharge of 3,880 cms on April 18 was 62 percent greater than the prior record ( m. Efforts to establish a recurrence interval for the flood at the RR-Grand Forks gaging station have been difficult. Recurrence intervals for most of the tributaries feeding the main stem of the Red River have been established at between 10 and 25 years (Macek-Rowland, 1997). Recent estimates of the flood frequency at RR-Grand Forks place the recurrence interval at approximately 200 to 250 years (Personal Communication, March 30, 2000, G. J. Wiche, District Chief, USGS/WRD, Bismarck, North Dakota).…”

Section: Flood Hydroclimatologymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 1997¹

Todhunter

2001

J American Water Resour Assoc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The flood hydroclimatology of the Grand Forks flood of April 1997, the most costly flood on a per capita basis for a major metropolitan area in United States history, is analyzed in terms of the natural processes that control spring snowmelt flooding in the region. The geomorphological characteristics of the basin are reviewed, and an integrated assessment of the hydroclimatological conditions during the winter of 1996 to 1997 is presented to gain a real‐world understanding of the physical basis of this catastrophic flood event. The Grand Forks flood resulted from the principal flood‐producing factors occurring at either historic or extreme levels, or at levels conducive to severe flooding. Above normal fall precipitation increased the fall soil moisture storage and reduced the spring soil moisture storage potential. A concrete frost layer developed that effectively reduced the soil infiltration capacity to zero. Record snowfall totals and snow cover depths occurred across the basin because of the unusual persistence of a blocking high circulation pattern throughout the winter. A severe, late spring blizzard delayed the snowmelt season and replenished the snow cover to record levels for early April. This blizzard was followed by a sudden transition to an extreme late season thaw due to the abrupt breakdown of the blocking circulation pattern. The presence of river ice contributed to backwater effects and affected the timing of tributary inflows to the main stem of the Red River. Only the absence of spring rains prevented an even more catastrophic flood disaster from taking place. This paper contributes to our understanding of the flood hydroclimatology of catastrophic flood events in an unusual flood hazard region that possesses relatively flat terrain, a north‐flowing river, and an annual peak discharge time series dominated by spring snowmelt floods.

show abstract

Section: Flood Hydroclimatologymentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Winter Snowfallmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Winter Snowfallmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Flood Hydroclimatologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Flood Hydroclimatologymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 1997¹

Todhunter

2001

J American Water Resour Assoc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Topographic analysis for the prairie pothole region of Western Canada

Shaw

Pietroniro

Martz

2012

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The unique topography of the pothole region of the North American prairies creates challenges for properly determining basin contributing area. Numerous depressions or potholes within the landscape impound runoff. However, potholes can ‘fill‐spill’ resulting in surface water connections between the potholes. Surface water connectivity between potholes ultimately influences basin contributing area. Currently, automated methods, such as landscape analysis tools, treat depressions in the landscape as artifacts and simply fill the depressions to delineate a drainage basin. Using this method to calculate contributing area assumes that all surface storage has been satisfied (threshold) and the drainage basin will contribute 100% of its area for all runoff events. However, most runoff events in the prairie pothole region are pre‐threshold events that contribute only a portion of surface runoff to the outlet. These pre‐threshold events have surface storage that varies because of antecedent water levels and have a variable or dynamic potential to store further runoff in the basin. Government agencies have developed methodologies for determining pre‐threshold contributing areas, but these methodologies do not incorporate current technologies and, as a result, have limitations. We propose an automated method for determining contributing area that incorporates the fill‐spill of prairie potholes. The algorithm, which uses the D‐8 drainage direction method, automates a methodology for identifying and quantifying runoff contributing area. Any algorithm that determines pre‐threshold contributing area, must allow the DEM to be filled in an incremental manner. This will simulate increasing pond levels, and the resulting decrease in available storage in the basin, in response to runoff events. The SPILL algorithm is an iterative solution that increases the magnitude of input runoff events and records the decreasing change in available surface storage and the increase in contributing area until the storage threshold is reached and the contributing area reaches 100%. Through application of the algorithm on prairie pothole region basins, we test proposed conceptual curves that describe a hypothesized non‐linear relationship between decreasing potential storage in the landscape and contributing area. Results indicate that the proposed conceptual curves represent the relationship between potential surface storage and contributing area in the test basins very well. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

A Climatology of Atmospheric Patterns Associated with Red River Valley Blizzards

Kennedy¹,

Trellinger²,

Grafenauer³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stretching along the border of North Dakota and Minnesota, The Red River Valley (RRV) of the North has the highest frequency of reported blizzards within the contiguous United States. Despite the numerous impacts these events have, few systematic studies exist discussing the meteorological properties of blizzards. As a result, forecasting these events and lesser blowing snow events is an ongoing forecast challenge. This study presents a climatology of atmospheric patterns associated with RRV blizzards for the winter seasons of 1979-1980 to 2017-2018. Patterns were identified using subjective and objective techniques using meteorological fields from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). The RRV experiences on average, 2.6 events per year. Blizzard frequency is bimodal with peaks occurring in December and March. The events can largely be typed into four meteorological categories dependent on the forcing that drives the blizzard: Alberta Clippers, Arctic Fronts, Colorado Lows, and Hybrids. Objective classification of these blizzards using a competitive neural network known as the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) demonstrates that gross segregation of the events can be achieved with a small (8-class) map. This implies that objective analysis techniques can be used to identify these events in weather and climate model output that may aid future forecasting and risk assessment projects.

show abstract

1997 floods in the Red River of the North and Missouri River basins in North Dakota and western Minnesota

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 1997¹

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 1997¹

Topographic analysis for the prairie pothole region of Western Canada

A Climatology of Atmospheric Patterns Associated with Red River Valley Blizzards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

1997 floods in the Red River of the North and Missouri River basins in North Dakota and western Minnesota

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 19971

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 19971

Topographic analysis for the prairie pothole region of Western Canada

A Climatology of Atmospheric Patterns Associated with Red River Valley Blizzards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 1997¹

A HYDROCLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RED RWER OF THE NORTH SNOWMELT FLOOD CATASTROPHE OF 1997¹