I recently mentioned that the timing of snowmelt runoff affects drought conditions in the American southwest. This harkens back to early this year, when I had communications with Pat Neuman, a retired hydrologist working in the midwest. He communicated to me that his studies of snowmelt runoff timing in the Red River (and other midwestern) basin indicated that it was coming earlier and earlier in the year. I even posted on the topic.
I thought I’d show an example, using streamflow for the Red River as measured at Fargo, ND. This is not the Red River of movie fame, it’s more properly called the “Red River of the North,” and forms the boundary between North Dakota and Minnesota. For each year, the data are the day of the year for the beginning of snowmelt runoff measured at Fargo, ND.
