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Broadwater Drought Resiliency Reports

What is a Drought Resiliency Report?

The Broadwater Drought Resiliency Report (BDRR) is a monthly report that describes the current water conditions within Broadwater County.  This report serves as a tool to aid in our resilience to land use changes, weather, and climate conditions.

The BDRR shows data from Broadwater CD drought monitoring sites and surrounding  agencies.  We take all of that data and create a simplified report  that helps the public save time searching through several websites, and is also easy to understand.

What Information is in the Drought Resiliency Report?

Beginning in 2016, BCD began to closely monitor drought indicator data.  These datasets include:

  • Snowpack
  • Drought Status
  • Water Storage
  • Precipitation and temperature
  • Missouri River streamflow
  • Local tributary streamflow
  • Soil moisture

Click HERE view a map of the monitoring sites used in the BWSR.

BCD Monitoring Sites

Soil Moisture

Broadwater Conservation District operates 2 real-time soil moisture sites that log real-time soil moisture data.  These sites are both located on private landowners property in natural range land that is not subject to influence of irrigation.  The soil moisture loggers upload real-time data every 15 minutes that can be accessed from your computer or smart phone.

The Crow Creek Site is located just south of Radersburg in the shadow of Lone Mountain.

The Gurnett Creek Site is located north of Townsend on the eastern side of Canyon Ferry near Gurnett Creek.

Precipitation

BCD works with 12 volunteers in seven regions throughout Broadwater County to report precipitation data.  Volunteers are given free rain gauges and asked to report the amount of precipitation back to the district once a week.

Precipitation information is typically gathered from May – October.  Each month, BCD consolidates and analyzes this information to form regionwide and countywide averages.  At the end of the season, BCD will release a yearly report

Streamflow

BCD operates stream gauges on 8 streams in Broadwater County.  These stream gauges are equipped with data loggers that measure stream height and temperature.  Manual streamflow monitoring is also conducted on a monthly basis.

BCD installed a DNRC real-time stream gauge on Deep Creek in 2019.  This was made possible through funding from Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Broadwater Missouri Water User’s Association.  You can visit this website to see the Deep Creek data.

Archive of Reports & Data

Broadwater Drought Resiliency Reports

Water Year 2020
Water Year 2018
Water Year 2017
Water Year 2016

Precipitation Data

2020

2018

2017

2016

Helpful Resources & Websites

Beginning in 2016, BCD began to closely monitor drought indicator data.  These datasets include:

  • Snowpack
  • Drought Status
  • Water Storage
  • Precipitation and temperature
  • Missouri River streamflow
  • Local tributary streamflow
  • Soil moisture
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