The U.S. Geological Survey, with federal, state and local partners, runs a long-term network of hydrologic monitoring stations in Kansas — 217 real-time stream gauges in water year 2019 (October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019). USGS staff check the real-time data year-round with regular measurements of streamflow, lake levels and groundwater. Comparing each year with the full record gives an overview used for managing water, protecting lives and property, farming and industry, running reservoirs, building infrastructure, ecological assessment and recreation.
Figure 1. USGS stream gauges in Kansas and selected river basins.
Before: from drought to downpour
Despite some heavy local storms, streamflow and runoff fell statewide between water years 2017 and 2018. Normal to below-normal precipitation in 2017 left drought across much of central and eastern Kansas; in 2018 the east was normal to dry while parts of the west, especially the north-centre, were wet, and south-central and eastern Kansas ended the year abnormally dry to in extreme drought.
Heavy rain in October and November 2018 ended the drought: by early December dry conditions had all but vanished, and they stayed away all year. Precipitation was normal to much above normal across the state, more than 20 inches above normal in parts of the northeast, with only a small area of normal rainfall in the southwest.
Figure 4. Precipitation in water year 2019: A, percentage of normal (1981–2010); B, inches above normal. NOAA.
Records
- May 2019 was the wettest month in 125 years of records: 10.26 inches, beating the 9.36 inches of 1951.
- Water year 2019 was Kansas's second-wettest in 130 years.
- It had the most cumulative runoff on record.
Figure 5. Average runoff in Kansas, water year 2019: A, cumulative daily; B, monthly.
Streamflow through the year
Runoff — streamflow per unit of area — tracks rain and river flow in a basin, and it stayed above normal all year.
| Months | Streamflow |
|---|---|
| October–December 2018 | much above normal, except small, slightly below-normal areas in the northwest and southwest |
| January–March 2019 | normal to much above normal in the north and centre, kept up by a strong blizzard |
| April–June | mostly above normal to high, after repeated widespread storms; by May, runoff in most of the state was in the 90th percentile, and every county but one in the northwest was normal to record high |
| July–September | normal to above normal; storms eased from July, but reservoirs released large volumes to empty their flood pools |
Those releases kept rivers in the upper and lower Kansas River Basin much above normal. In July the east — home to most large reservoirs — had the highest streamflow percentiles; in the west only the Cimarron and South Fork Republican basins were below normal. The year ended mostly normal to high.
Figure 7. Streamflow conditions across Kansas in May 2019.
Record high water
- For 69 percent of the year, at least one gauge was above the National Weather Service flood stage; only 114 days passed without flooding somewhere — 200 more flood days than in 2018 and 194 more than in 2017.
- 45 of the 217 gauges set a new peak of record — the highest water level the USGS had recorded there.
- The last comparable year of widespread, lasting floods was 1993. Six gauges running before 1993 set new peaks; of 122 gauges with records back to 1993, 62 topped their 1993 peak.
- Rivers above flood stage for more than 30 days at gauged reaches included the Marais des Cygnes, Arkansas, Neosho, Kansas, Republican, Big Blue, Black Vermillion, Fancy Creek, Cow Creek, Cottonwood and Missouri rivers.
- Backwater — high water downstream or in the main channel holding water up upstream — raised levels at many sites. Backwater from Tuttle Creek Lake and Milford Lake kept four gauges above flood stage for more than 15 days: the Republican River at Clay Center, Big Blue River at Blue Rapids, Black Vermillion River near Frankfort and Fancy Creek at Winkler.
Figure 8. Number of USGS stream gauges above flood stage through water year 2019.
Figure 9. Water year 2019 flooding, photographed by USGS staff: A, Neosho River near Neosho Rapids; B, Cottonwood River near Plymouth; C, Slate Creek at Wellington; D, Little Arkansas River near Sedgwick; E, Little Arkansas River at Alta Mills; F, Slate Creek at Wellington.
Figure 10. How water year 2019 compared with each gauge's historical record.
Reservoirs
Most USGS-monitored reservoirs started the year at normal levels. Eleven of twelve rose above their normal conservation pool; only Cedar Bluff Reservoir did not. Releases were held back because of high water downstream on the Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, prolonging flooding upstream of the dams. Once downstream floods eased and limits were lifted, almost every reservoir released more, raising downstream flow above the previous year.
- Five reservoirs set water-level records.
- Tuttle Creek Lake peaked at 830 percent above normal storage.
- At year's end, three reservoirs held more than double their normal conservation storage, six others held more than at the start, and three held slightly less.
Figure 11. USGS-monitored reservoirs in Kansas, water year 2019.
Sources
- Davis, C., 2020, Hydrologic conditions in Kansas, water year 2019: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2020–3029. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20203029
- The figures and captions come from the fact sheet's PDF. Its drought-monitor maps, from the National Drought Mitigation Center, and its maps of 2017 and 2018 precipitation are not reproduced.
- The original spells one river "Marias Des Cygnes"; it is the Marais des Cygnes.
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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