Year End Summary for 2021
YEAR END SUMMARY STATION NAME: Middle Fork Whitewater River nr St Charles, CR107 STATION NUMBER: H40019001 YEAR: 2021 PREPARED BY: Jacob Kolke; jacob.kolke@state.mn.us CLIMATE SUMMARY: Division 9, 2021: After a generally mild winter with normal to below-normal snowfall, warm and dry conditions persisted during the May-through-October liquid precipitation season, leading to some drought designations. Precipitation from May through October averaged about 85% of normal, or just under 4 inches below normal. May through July was dry, with an average of just under 11 inches of rain falling over the 3-month period (normal would have been just under 14.5 inches). June had bouts of extreme heat, and May through October averaged just 2.5 degrees F above normal. Normal to above-normal precipitation during late summer and autumn helped drought conditions improve, and areas near the Mississippi River spent little time in official drought designations. Heavy rain fell on August 26-27, with 3-5 inches in many areas. Mean temperatures fell below freezing in early November, with accumulating snows most areas by early December. STATION OPERATION SUMMARY: Is this site monitored year round? NO Open water dates - estimated Ice out and Ice in: 3/3/2021 - 12/6/2021 Period of data record: 1/1/2021 - 11/18/2021 Summary of equipment - related factors that impacted data collection: The gage is visited minimally during the year, usually in the spring and fall to check the gage and take a flow measurement. The gage may have also been visited during high flow events. The gage went down in the summer due to a bad battery and no data is available for 6/23/2021 to 7/2/2021. DISCHARGE SUMMARY: Number of flow measurements for monitoring season: Four, all were open water measurements. Was the full range of flows measured for the season? NO, this is a flood warning gage and stream flow measurements are limited. Was a new rating developed? NO General summary of control changes/shifts needed: Due to the limited visits, the timing of the control changes cannot be determined. Quality of computed daily discharges: The minimal site visits do not meet our criteria to calculate a reliable discharge record. There is too much uncertainty in the record and any computation would not meet our quality standards for a computed discharge record. PRECIPITATION DATA OVERVIEW: Was precipitation data collected at this site? YES Climatological liquid precipitation period: 5/1/2021 - 10/31/2021 Was there a complete and acceptable precipitation record for this period? NO. Data was missing from 6/23/2021 to 7/2/2021 as the gage was down due to a bad battery.