River and stream awareness level at yellow

The Hot Springs County River and Stream Awareness level is currently at yellow.

Awareness level yellow will apply:

When release flows from Boysen Dam reach 3,000 cubic feet/second (cfs).

When short or long-term forecasts indicate conditions are likely to require vigilance such as:

•Heavy snowmelt runoff potentials exist

•Heavy rain is forecast on snowpack or saturated soils

•High temperatures on snowpack hastening snowmelt and runoff

According to Hot Springs County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon, “The status at the moment is awareness of the flow in the Bighorn River. Even 3,000cfs is a powerful force and people floating the river should be wearing personal floatation devices. The key word here is wearing. They are of little use if one ends up in the water and the PFD is still in the boat or back in the car.”

Gordon added, “The snowmelt issues have not gone away. Up high in the mountains it takes nighttime temperatures to remain above freezing for the runoff to begin in earnest. Overnight temperatures up high are still single digits or teens so the runoff is still at least a couple weeks away.”