RED RIVER OF THE NORTH BASIN

05054000 RED RIVER OF THE NORTH AT FARGO, ND

LOCATION.--Lat 46×51'40", long 96×47'00", in NW14NE14 sec.18, T.139 N., R.48 W., Cass County, Hydrologic Unit 09020104, at waterplant on 4th Street South in Fargo, 25 mi upstream from mouth of Sheyenne River, and at mile 453.

DRAINAGE AREA.--6,800 mi2, approximately.

WATER-DISCHARGE RECORDS

PERIOD OF RECORD.--June 1901 to current year. Published as "at Moorhead, MN.", 1901. Monthly discharge only for some periods, published in WSP 1308.

REVISED RECORDS.--WSP 1308: 1902-4, 1906-7, 1910-14, 1916, 1918, 1924. WSP 1388: 1905-6, 1917-20(M), 1935(M), 1938-39(M), 1943.

GAGE.--Water-stage recorder and concrete control. Datum of gage is 861.8 ft above National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929. Oct. 1, 1960, to Sept. 30, 1962, water-stage recorder at present site at datum 5.6 ft higher. See WSP 1728 or 1913 for history of changes prior to Oct. 1, 1960.

REMARKS.--Records good except for discharges below 200 ft3/s, which are fair and for estimated daily discharges, which are poor. Flow regulated by; Orwell Reservoir, flood storage capacity, 13,300 acre-ft at elevation 1,070 ft above mean sea level, adjustment of 1912; Mud Lake, flood storage capacity, 78,600 acre-ft at elevation 981 ft above mean sea level, adjustment of 1912; Lake Traverse, flood storage capacity, 75,100 acre-ft at elevation 981 ft above mean sea level, adjustment of 1912; and numerous other controlled lakes and ponds and several powerplants. Figures of daily discharge do not include diversions to cities of Fargo and Moorhead, MN, from the Sheyenne River.

EXTREMES OUTSIDE PERIOD OF RECORD.--Flood of Apr. 7, 1897, reached a stage of 39.1 ft present datum, discharge, 25,000 ft3/s at site 1.5 mi downstream.

Discharge, cubic feet per second 

WATER YEAR OCTOBER 2003 TO SEPTEMBER 2004

DAILY MEAN VALUES

DAY	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP
1	63	e110	e185	e100	e90	e230	930	515	4,410	734	455	223
2	68	e115	e165	e100	e90	e245	933	522	5,100	709	578	216
3	82	e118	e155	e110	e90	e260	872	505	5,380	714	525	183
4	85	126	e150	e125	e92	e280	743	452	5,380	668	467	302
5	e75	134	e145	e130	e92	e300	612	433	5,030	632	432	1,330
6	e70	114	e135	e130	e94	e320	515	411	4,160	832	513	3,500
7	e70	101	e128	e130	e94	e320	469	422	3,190	744	658	3,000
8	e72	88	e118	e130	e94	e320	454	448	2,550	825	617	2,190
9	e75	88	e113	e130	e95	e330	467	499	2,180	1,150	583	1,850
10	e74	95	e110	e130	e110	e340	501	506	2,010	1,410	546	1,540
11	123	137	e110	e125	e130	e360	493	597	2,010	1,880	530	1,330
12	e100	188	e105	e120	e137	e400	445	611	2,060	2,060	525	1,150
13	e90	201	e97	e115	e137	e440	423	750	2,070	2,120	516	1,010
14	e100	178	e91	e115	e140	e490	416	778	2,100	1,980	508	902
15	e100	182	e88	e115	e142	e560	414	664	2,090	1,870	513	918
16	e89	187	e81	e115	e160	e640	410	595	1,950	1,700	529	847
17	e95	178	e81	e115	e175	e690	406	600	1,820	1,540	534	765
18	e105	154	e80	e120	e195	e730	428	618	1,690	1,390	530	737
19	e96	e140	e80	e120	e200	e840	475	691	1,590	1,310	520	885
20	e90	e125	e80	e115	e205	e950	492	717	1,510	1,270	479	1,040
21	e95	e115	e80	e115	e210	e990	496	646	1,440	1,230	466	947
22	106	e108	e83	e115	e210	e1,060	502	642	1,380	1,160	444	986
23	124	e98	e90	e115	e210	e1,200	515	655	1,330	1,090	433	1,570
24	132	e93	e92	e110	e210	e1,280	524	656	1,240	1,020	414	2,090
25	124	e90	e93	e94	e210	e1,310	527	657	1,090	950	394	2,470
26	111	e94	e94	e90	e210	e1,320	532	663	968	874	433	2,810
27	e100	e100	e94	e90	e210	e1,320	532	671	871	808	479	2,960
28	e95	e115	e94	e90	e220	e1,310	528	675	814	884	367	2,960
29	e100	e140	e95	e90	e225	e1,270	514	745	785	676	258	2,760
30	e108	e210	e97	e90	---	e1,150	514	1,260	752	527	214	2,300
31	e110	---	e99	e90	---	1,050	---	3,100	---	472	222	---
TOTAL	2,927	3,922	3,308	3,479	4,477	22,305	16,082	21,704	68,950	35,229	14,682	45,771
MEAN	94.4	131	107	112	154	720	536	700	2,298	1,136	474	1,526
MAX	132	210	185	130	225	1,320	933	3,100	5,380	2,120	658	3,500
MIN	63	88	80	90	90	230	406	411	752	472	214	183
AC-FT	5,810	7,780	6,560	6,900	8,880	44,240	31,900	43,050	136,800	69,880	29,120	90,790
+	1,400	1,290	1,280	1,300	1,310	1,320	1,280	1,420	1,430	1,540	1,460	1,260
*	7,210	9,070	7,840	8,200	10,190	45,560	33,180	44,470	138,230	71,420	30,580	92,050
STATISTICS OF MONTHLY MEAN DATA FOR WATER YEARS 1901 - 2004, BY WATER YEAR (WY)
MEAN	333	295	253	229	241	787	1,987	1,163	1,112	948	450	353
MAX	1,741	942	1,261	740	1,353	4,722	17,920	5,365	5,122	5,692	3,293	2,280
(WY)	(1994)	(1907)	(1999)	(1986)	(1998)	(1995)	(1997)	(1997)	(1962)	(1962)	(1993)	(1993)
MIN	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.18	26.8	102	8.12	2.87	0.00	0.00	0.00
(WY)	(1935)	(1937)	(1938)	(1933)	(1933)	(1937)	(1934)	(1934)	(1936)	(1934)	(1932)	(1934)

SUMMARY STATISTICS	FOR 2003 CALENDAR YEAR	FOR 2004 WATER YEAR	WATER YEARS 1901 - 2004
ANNUAL TOTAL	252,776	242,836
ANNUAL MEAN	693 *(715)	663 *(688)	681
HIGHEST ANNUAL MEAN			2,619 1997
LOWEST ANNUAL MEAN			17.5 1934
HIGHEST DAILY MEAN	6,680 Jun 30	5,380 Jun  3	27,800 Apr 17, 1997
LOWEST DAILY MEAN	46 Sep 27	63 Oct  1	0.00 Jul 25, 1932
ANNUAL SEVEN-DAY MINIMUM	53 Sep 24	73 Oct  1	0.00 Jul 25, 1932
MAXIMUM PEAK FLOW		5,430 Jun  3	28,000 Apr 17, 1997
MAXIMUM PEAK STAGE		20.47 Jun  3	39.72 Apr 18, 1997
ANNUAL RUNOFF (AC-FT)	501,400 *(517,800)	481,700 *(498,000)	493,000
10 PERCENT EXCEEDS	1,400	1,620	1,520
50 PERCENT EXCEEDS	340	432	335
90 PERCENT EXCEEDS	90	92	43

+ Diversions in acre-ft to cities of Fargo and Moorhead * Adjusted for diversions to cities of Fargo and Moorhead e Estimated

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