Higher flows expected in Kettle River system through the weekend
– Longer range predictions still uncertain, but slower melt favourable to date
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary continues to watch rivers closely as they move toward peak flows anywhere from seven to ten days from now, depending upon weather. The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) is activated to Level 2, with a Freshet Advanced Planning Team dedicated fulltime to river monitoring.
“Until we are closer to the weekend when river and weather forecast models enter the high confidence range, we won’t know which freshet scenario we are going to see, except to say that we are nowhere near what we saw in 2018. We could see one- to two-year return for river levels, and as always with high water could see some erosion,” said Mark Stephens, EOC Director for the RDKB.
Recent updates from the BC River Forecast Centre show that snowmelt will accelerate in early May as temperatures hit the low twenties and possible unsettled weather could bring rainfall at higher elevations. The amount of rain in combination with air temperatures will determine whether rivers in the Boundary reach typical freshet levels with minimal flooding.
To read the press release in it’s entirety, click here.