National Water and Climate Center - NRCS Kevin Stamm, USACE Missouri River Forecaster’s Meeting Jan. 28, 2014 Hydrologic Engineering Center

Proposal for a Missouri River Basin Interagency Expanded Plains Snow and Basin Condition Network Background Independent Technical Review (ITR) - (Recommendation #5): Studies to enhance data collection, forecasting, and resulting runoff from plains snow. Establishment of additional permanent plains snow measurement stations, focused on improved historical record, and research on the effects of prairie soils, geomorphology, and hydrology on snowmelt runoff. Improve collaboration with other groups that collect and analyze snow data. Purpose: Present a framework for the establishment of an interagency, usable and sustainable network that will enhance the forecasting of runoff during the plains snowmelt period. Approach: Consultation with subject matter experts from various agencies. Initially, use near real-time, on-the-ground snow depth and SWE measurements made manually at regular intervals. Establishment of the plains snow network in the same manner as the mountain snow network over time. 3

2012  Apr-Jul – Development of Initial Proposal/Framework  July 25 – Proposal Presented to MRBIR (Omaha, NE)  September 20 – Proposal Presented to MoRAST (Bismarck, ND)  Sep-Jan - Refinement of Final Proposal 2013  January 24 - Proposal Presented to MRBIR (Kansas City, MO)  Jan-Mar – Proposal informally vetted through upper states  March 4-5 – Proposal Presented to MoRAST (Rapid City, SD)  In WRDA 2013 bill (Section 5008) –passed House and Senate 2014  House and Senate conferees reconciling differences  Expected conference version in Spring 2014  If authorized, appropriations bill in FY16 (earliest) 4

 Automated Measurements  Aerial Snow Surveys  Manual Snow Sampling 6

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USACEState of ND 9

Current Soil USACE HEC-HMS Snowmelt Runoff Models NWS NOHRSC Snow Model USACE CRREL Snow Grid Forecast Precipitation Observed Precipitation Observed Temperature Forecast Temperature Current Snow Water Equivalent NWS MBRFC Precipitation NWS/USACE Temperature NWS/NRCS/ State/USACE Soil Moisture Current Soil Current Soil Moisture 25 cm 50 cm 100 cm 10 cm 10 Discussions on-going with HEC and CRREL regarding development of soil moisture grids and integration into HMS.

PhaseDescriptionCapitalAnnual/O&M 1Upgrade Existing AWDN Sites (67)$1,628,100$301,500 2Upgrade Existing NRCS SCAN Sites (10) $56,000$35,000 3Upgrade Existing NOAA USCRN Sites (15) $31,500$52,500 4Install New AWDN Sites in SD (3)$88,500$13,500 5Install New SCAN Sites in WY and MT (26) $969,800$91,000 6Enhance Aerial Gamma Measurements $2,550,000$150,000 7Add State Manual Snow Sampler Coordinator in WY, MT, SD, ND and NE $618,750 8Add Collateral Duty Manual Snow Surveyors (5) $302,500$193,600 $6,245,150$1,455,850 11

 Better understanding of basin … during flood, normal and drought conditions  Consistency throughout the basin regarding instrumentation, standards, QA/QC  Data collected real-time, quality controlled, archived and available to everyone 12

National Water and Climate Center - NRCS Kevin Stamm, USACE Missouri River Forecaster’s Meeting Jan. 28, 2014 Hydrologic Engineering Center

Proposal for a Missouri River Basin Interagency Expanded Plains Snow and Basin Condition Network Independent Technical Review (ITR) - (Recommendation #5): Studies to enhance data collection, forecasting, and resulting runoff from plains snow. Suggested activities include establishment of additional permanent plains snow measurement stations (using already established snow measurement standards), focused on the development of improved historical record at permanent stations; and research on the effects of prairie soils, geomorphology, and hydrology on snowmelt runoff. Also, the Corps should work to improve collaboration with other groups that collect and analyze snow data, for example, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network. March 2012: "An expanded Plains snowpack monitoring system needs to be set up while memories of the floods are fresh and everyone is willing to spend the money, (SD Governor) Daugaard told top officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," “(USACE NWD Commander) McMahon said the corps is working with other agencies to determine how to create and fund an expanded plains snowpack monitoring system, one of the recommendations made by an expert panel that studied last summer's flooding. A more extensive system is already in place for monitoring the snowpack in the northern Rocky Mountains, he said." 2

Proposal for a Missouri River Basin Interagency Expanded Plains Snow and Basin Condition Network Purpose: The goal of this proposal is to present a framework for the establishment of an interagency, usable and sustainable network that will enhance the forecasting of runoff during the plains snowmelt period. This proposal is not intended to be a final plan, rather a launching point for additional discussion to include appropriate subject matter experts into developing the final plan. Approach: This proposal involved consultation with subject matter experts from various agencies. Establishment of the plains snow network in the same manner as the mountain snow network could be established over a period of time. Initially, use of near real-time, on-the-ground snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements made manually at regular intervals would provide necessary information in the short-term and also be extremely useful in determining long- term, possibly automated, network needs. 3

2012  Mar-Apr– Project Initialization/Team Formation  Apr-Jul – Development of Initial Proposal/Framework  July 25 – Proposal Presented to MRBIR (Omaha, NE)  Jul-Sep – Refinement of Initial Proposal  September – Face-to-Face Meeting (Bismarck, ND)  September 20 – Proposal Presented to MoRAST (Bismarck, ND)  Sep-Jan ◦ Formation of Instrumentation and Inventory Sub-Team ◦ Development of Instrumentation Recommendation ◦ Refinement of Final Proposal 2013  January 24 - Proposal Presented to MRBIR (Kansas City, MO)  Jan-Mar – Proposal informally vetted through upper states  March 4-5 – Proposal Presented to MoRAST (Rapid City, SD)  In WRDA 2013 bill (Section 5008) – awaiting House vote 4

 Inventory of existing federal, state and volunteer networks – climate, snowpack and soil moisture … leverage what is available.  Gap Assessment in monitoring, geographic areas and data acquired … what is missing?  Monitoring Recommendations to identify what will be needed to meet short-term and long-term forecasting and monitoring goals. 5

Rome, Italy 13

 Solicit Feedback from Decision-Makers  Evaluate Priorities / Assess  Manage Resources and Needs  Continue Moving Forward … 14