Reclamation issues snowmelt forecast for Bighorn River Basin

MILLS, Wyo. - Reclamation's June Forecast of the June through July water runoff predicted for the Bighorn River Basin is as follows:

• Bighorn Lake: Bighorn River June through July inflow to Bighorn Lake is forecast to be approximately 370,000 acre-feet (af), which is 47% of the 30-year average of 782,000 af. As of June 1, Bighorn Lake is 88% full.
• Buffalo Bill Reservoir: Shoshone River June through July inflow to Buffalo Bill Reservoir is forecast at 320,000 af, which is 61% of the 30-year average of 525,000 af. As of June 1, Buffalo Bill is 74% full. *
• Boysen Reservoir: Wind River June through July inflow to Boysen Reservoir is forecast at 240,000 af, which is 45% of the 30-year average of 536,000 af. As of June 1, Boysen Reservoir is 75% full. *
• Bull Lake Reservoir: June through July snowmelt runoff into Bull Lake Reservoir from Bull Lake Creek is expected to be 94,000 af, which is 82% of the 30-year average of 114,000 af. As of June 1, Bull Lake Reservoir is 45% full. *

*Reservoir is considered "full" when the pool elevation is at top of active conservation or joint-use pool. The percentage is based on total reservoir volume below that level.

The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles (160 km) wide, in north-central Wyoming. It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Pryor Mountains on the north, the Bighorn Mountains on the east, and the Wind River and Granite Mountains on the south. It is drained to the north by tributaries of the Bighorn River, which enters the basin from the southwest, and passes through a gap between the Owl Creek and Bridger Mountains as the Wind River before changing its name to the Bighorn River at Wedding of the Waters, south of Thermopolis.

Reclamation's storage reservoirs in the basin have a combined storage capacity of 2.6 million acre-feet and most of that capacity is attributed to Bull Lake, Boysen and Buffalo Bill Reservoirs in Wyoming and Bighorn Lake in Montana. Hydropower is produced at Boysen Powerplant and four powerplants supplied by Buffalo Bill Reservoir in Wyoming and at Yellowtail Powerplant in Montana.

For additional information on Buffalo Bill, Boysen, and Bull Lake Reservoirs, contact Wyoming Area Manager Lyle Myler at 307-261-5671. For additional information on Bighorn Lake (Yellowtail), contact Montana Area Manager Ryan Newman at 406-247-7298.