Rushing waters

  Minnehaha Falls is spectacular, and loud, right now.  That’s not surprising, since our Twin Cities precipitation (rainfall plus the water content in that annoying April snow) is 6.32 inches (64%) above normal since April 1.  Here’s how Minnehaha Falls looked yesterday afternoon:

                                (Left-click on the photo for a detailed view) 

  Generous spring rains have helped our lakes recover from the 2011-12 drought.  Based on data from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District MCWD, the water level of Lake Minnetonka is 9 inches higher than it was at this time last year.  The amount of water flowing out of Gray’s Bay Dam right now is six times the flow that was recorded at this time last year. That has contributed to a robustly flowing Minnehaha Creek, and a very picturesque Minnehaha Falls.  Nice!

 I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

April takes the crown

  April snows melt quickly. We have that going for us, which is nice! The 3.8” of snow that fell at MSP airport late Monday brought our April snow total to 17.9”. That tops the 15.1” recorded in February, making this the snowiest month of our Twin Cities 2012-2013 snow season.  

  It’s rare for April to be the snowiest month of winter in the Twin Cities…it hasn’t happened since the winter of 2001-2002. Over the past 30 winters, from the winter of 1983-84 to this winter, our snowiest month has been:

December… 8 times

January… 7 times

March... 5 times

November… 5 times

February… 3 times

April… 2 times

  This is now the third snowiest April in Twin Cities history, based on weather records going back to 1885. Our snowiest April was in 1983, with 21.8”, followed by April of 2002, with 20.2”. If you need more snow stats, you can see an extensive listing of monthly Twin Cities snowfall totals at MSPsnow.

  I’ll leave you with some pics taken in Minnetonka this morning:

  These are along Minnehaha Creek in Big Willow Park:

(You can left-click on any pic for a detailed view)

I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

A return to Minnehaha Falls

  I checked out Minnehaha Falls yesterday. I’m not sure that it qualifies as a “falls” right now...it’s more of a “trickle”. Here’s how it looks:

                                         (Left-click on pic for detailed view)

  It looked a lot different on May 6th:

 

  In May, the water gushing over the falls and splashing down below was pleasantly loud. Now, it’s strangely quiet.

  Why no falls? We’ve seen very little rain the past six weeks, so water flow in Minnehaha Creek is extremely low, almost non-existent. Our dry spell has also dropped water levels on Lake Minnetonka, so Gray’s Bay Dam was closed around August 20th (Dam), and water is no longer being released into Minnehaha Creek.

  Generous rains will return eventually, and our familiar Minnehaha Creek and Minnehaha Falls will also return. In the meantime, bring a camera if you visit Minnehaha Falls…it doesn’t look like this very often!

 
I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda  

Historic May downpours

  About one week ago, a friend of mine said “we need some rain to keep the dust down”. We sure don’t need any more rain right now! We saw buckets of rain Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon. At MSP airport, .81” fell Wednesday evening, and the tally yesterday was 2.58”, which is a new record rainfall total for May 24th. The two-day total at MSP airport was 3.39 inches. That is more than our average monthly total for May of 3.24”. A month’s worth of rain in about 24 hours!.

  The generous rains have lifted lake levels, and Minnehaha Creek has reappeared. On Wednesday morning, the creek was barely flowing. Here’s how it looked today, near the Burwell House in Minnetonka:

                                 (Left-click on photos for a larger image)

  Our rainfall at MSP now stands at 8.18” this month, enough to make this the second-rainiest May in Twin Cities history. Here is an updated list of our rainiest Mays, based on data posted on the Minnesota State Climatology Office web site ( Climate ):

Rank Rainfall Year

---- -------- ----

 1.  10.33....1906

 2.   8.18....2012

 3.   8.14....1908

 4.   8.03....1962

 5.   7.87....1933

 6.   7.86....1965

 7.   7.18....1879

 8.   6.97....1938

 9.   6.97....1916 

10.   6.78....1942

  We have a shot at the May rainfall record. Occasional showers and thunderstorms are expected this weekend, but we should have some dry time for outdoor fun too.

Plenty of rain!

   What a difference a week makes! Bouts of heavy rain Thursday through Sunday dropped an impressive 3.45 inches at MSP airport. Because of the downpours, Minnehaha Creek has swollen, and a lot of water is rushing over Minnehaha Falls.

   Here’s how it looked this (Sunday) afternoon:

                            (You can left-click on the photo for a larger view)

  Compare that to this photo, taken last Wednesday:

  Heavy rains fell over much of central and southern Minnesota the past four days. We’ve gone from drought to soggy lawns and farm fields. Now we’re looking for some dry days, and some sunshine would be nice too.

Welcome rain

   It’s great to finally see some generous rains. About three-quarters of an inch fell at MSP airport late Tuesday evening, and we saw another three-quarters of an inch late this morning. Rain is very welcome, after our incredibly dry autumn Sep-Nov 2011 , and below-normal winter snowfall. 

   I was at Minnehaha Falls yesterday, and I noticed much less water flowing though Minnehaha Creek compared to this time last year. We don’t have the massive plume of water coming over the falls that we saw one year ago. It’s still a beautiful sight, and I wasn’t the only one taking photos of Minnehaha Falls yesterday afternoon:

                            (You can left-click on the photo for a larger view)

   Additional rain will boost creek flows and lake levels around our area. Many Minnesota farmers are hoping for rain too…it will help recharge the soil moisture ahead of the growing season.

Our lakes need some rain

  It was great to see the rain on Sunday, but we could have used a lot more. Our official tally at MSP airport was just over one-half of an inch. A moderate to severe drought continues through most of the Twin Cities metro area and over much of Minnesota.
  An incredibly dry autumn, followed by limited winter snowfall, produced a significant drop in the water levels of many Minnesota lakes. Here’s a picture of Lake Minnetonka, near Excelsior Commons, taken Monday afternoon.

                             (You can left-click on the photo for a larger view)
 
  Last spring, water covered the sand at this spot, and I remember waves splashing over the lowest rocks on the bank. Based on data from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District web site MCWD water levels, Lake Minnetonka is more than two feet lower than it was at this time last year.  Here are mid-April Lake Minnetonka water levels over the past four years:

       2012  April 16  928.04  (Feet above sea level)

       2011  April 15  930.11

       2010  April 16  929.29

       2009  April 16  928.94

  The water level was so high last April because we were coming out of a very snowy winter. This winter, we saw only 22.3 inches of snow, less than half of normal. Generous spring rains would help our lake levels recover a bit. If we could schedule the rain to fall at night, followed by daytime sunshine, there would be a lot of smiles.