Year End Summary for 2021
YEAR END SUMMARY STATION NAME: Baptism River nr Beaver Bay, MN61 STATION NUMBER: H01092001 YEAR: 2021 PREPARED BY: Jonathan Libbey, jonathan.libbey@state.mn.us CLIMATE SUMMARY: Division 3, 2021: After a generally mild winter with below-normal snowfall, warm and dry conditions dominated the May-through-October liquid precipitation season, leading to widespread Extreme drought categorizations on the US Drought Monitor. Precipitation from May through October averaged about 63% of normal. May through July was the driest on record back to 1895, with an average of under 5.0 inches of rain falling over the 3-month period (normal would have been over 11 inches). June and July had bouts of extreme heat, which worsened the drought conditions, and May through October averaged over 4.0 degrees F above normal and was the warmest on record. Normal and above-normal precipitation during late summer and autumn helped drought conditions improve, although deficits remained. No significant precipitation events occurred. Mean temperatures fell below freezing in early November, and the seasonal snow pack formed during mid-November in far northern areas, and by early December elsewhere. STATION OPERATION SUMMARY: Is this site monitored year round? Yes Open water dates - estimated Ice out and Ice in: Estimated ice out 3/25/21, estimated ice in 11/19/21. Period of data record (if different from ice out/ice in dates): 1/1/21 to 12/31/21. Summary of equipment - related factors that impacted data collection: Ice and cold temps briefly impacted the orifice line, spikes and erroneous level data was removed. One short period of data is missing in January from a low battery. No other issues. Logger tracked well with staff gage readings all year. Level data gets erratic at higher flows but that is due to turbulence on site. DISCHARGE SUMMARY: Number of flow measurements for monitoring season: 8 Was the full range of flows measured for the season? No, highest measured flow was 415cfs, highest computed flow was 1880cfs. Lowest measured flow was 4.65cfs (new record low msmt), lowest computed flow was 2.82cfs. Was a new rating developed? Yes, new curve created for 2 new low flow msmts and to adjust for an accumulation of msmts on the scour side from mid to higher flows. General summary of control changes/shifts needed: Winter ice shifts were needed and one scour shift in October. Quality of computed daily discharges: Daily discharges coded fair, estimated, poor, ice, and good. PRECIPITATION DATA OVERVIEW: Was precipitation data collected at this site? No CONTINUOUS WATER QUALITY SUMMARY: