The ice thickness on the Roseau River was also found to be in the normal range of 1.0 to 1.5 feet at most locations. The long-standing practice of issuing flood outlooks for three possible weather scenarios has been continued. These future precipitation values are added to existing snowcover estimates to obtain total precipitation estimates up to April 15. The NWS forecast also includes a bias based on the 90-day weather outlook. This approach is more rigorous than Manitoba's time lumped methodology and will greatly improve forecast information for the U.S. portion of the Red River.
Wetlands are full and many low areas on fields are ice-filled.
Snowcover is close to average for this time of year. The flood potential is relatively high despite the lack of a heavy snowcover, since infiltration into l will be much less than average. The runoff potential will increase very rapidly with additional precipitation. Agathe to the Floodway Inlet, levels would be one to three feet higher than those of 1996. This scenario would mean extensive flooding of agricultural lands from Emerson to the Floodway Inlet.