© 2025 SDPB
SDPB Radio
BBC World Service
SDPB Radio
BBC World Service
Next Up: 5:00 AM Morning Edition
0:00
0:00
BBC World Service
SDPB Radio
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Missouri River runoff forecast to remain below normal

On some parts of the Missouri River, sandbars are closed to protect piping plovers, an endangered species that calls the river home.
Marissa Brunkhorst
/
SDPB
Missouri River in southeast South Dakota

Runoff on the Missouri River Basin remains below average.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said March runoff on the river above Sioux City was 76 percent of average.

“Runoff into the reservoir system was below average for the month of March and conditions across most of the basin remain dry,” said John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “Mountain snowpack has improved over the last few weeks but is still below average. We are forecasting a below-average runoff year for the basin.”

The Corps expects the system to remain down the rest of 2025. The latest estimate projects runoff averaging around 85 percent of normal.

That forecast is based on several conditions, including soil moisture, snowpack and long-term precipitation outlook.