Potomac River flow at Point of Rocks has increased to a level above 2000 cfs, CO-OP's threshold for daily drought monitoring and reporting. However, little rain is on the horizon and streamflow forecasts indicate that flow will fall back below 2000 cfs within a few days, so we will not discontinue daily drought operations at this time. The Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center predicts up to 1/10 inches of rain in the western portion of the Potomac basin over the next 3 days. Over the next 7 days, accumulations of 1/10 to 1/2 inches are expected in the basin.
Recent basin-wide average precipitation (above Little Falls):
(based on CO-OP's Low Flow Forecast System analysis of Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center (MARFC) gridded multisensor precipitation estimates)
Yesterday's area-weighted average basin precip: 0.04531 (inches)
Past 3-day cumulative area-weighted average basin precip: 0.97196 (inches)
Past 7-day cumulative area-weighted average basin precip: 1.11928 (inches)
Daily Flows:
Little Falls gage flow 2019-10-09: 1189 MGD (1840 cfs)
Little Falls gage flow 2019-10-10: 1312 MGD (est., based on recently available real time data) (2030 cfs)
Note: Gage flow at Little Falls is measured after water supply withdrawals.
Point of Rocks flow 2019-10-09: 1403 MGD (2170 cfs)
Point of Rocks flow 2019-10-10: 1622 MGD (est., based on recently available real time data) (2510 cfs)
Yesterday's Net Potomac withdrawal (2019-10-09):
FW Corbalis withdrawal (Potomac): 105 MGD
WSSC Potomac withdrawal: 169 MGD
Aqueduct withdrawal: 157 MGD
Loudoun withdrawal: 10 MGD
Total Potomac withdrawal: 440 MGD