• Notice - The USGS Water Resources Mission Area's priority is to maintain the safety and well-being of our communities, including providing critical situational awareness in times of flooding in all 50 U.S. states and additional territories. Our hydrologic monitoring stations continue to send data in near real-time to NWISWeb, and we are continuing critical water monitoring activities to protect life and property on a case-by-case basis. The health and safety of the public and our employees are our highest priorities, and we continue to follow guidance from the White House, the CDC, and state and local authorities.

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ICE EFFECTS ON STREAMFLOW

The formation of ice on rivers can cause discharge values to appear unusually high. Display of these erroneous discharge data may result in improper assessment of flow conditions and misuse of the data. For this reason, display of discharge values for streams significantly affected by ice may be disabled from view. Display of discharge data will resume when ice conditions are no longer present. Discharge values for streams minimally affected by ice will continue to be displayed. Flows for streams with these conditions appear to increase during the night and decrease to near-base-line conditions around midday. To estimate the correct discharge for these streams, use the flow rate that corresponds to the bottom of the discharge curve, rather than the peak that corresponds to the top of the curve. Note that this method of estimation is possible only when no surface runoff is occurring. Daily mean discharges for periods of both significant and minimal ice-effect will be estimated and published in the Annual Water-Data Report for the water year in which they occurred.