JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The National Weather Service updated its flood and water resources outlook for the James River basin for late March through late June.

Across the James River Basin, including Pipestem Creek, modeled risks about Jamestown, Pingree, and Grace City are below normal.

The weather service says this is because of the exceptionally warm and dry soils under the snowpack.

However, south of I-94, the flood risk rises because of some of the highest snow-water-equivalent(SWE) in the state of North Dakota.

Snowpack across the Missouri and James River basins remains thinnest in the western quarter of the state and increases as one looks farther east. SWE content between one and slightly over two inches is common, with locally higher amounts west of a line from Williston on down through Dickinson and Lemmon, South Dakota. East of that
line, SWE rises rapidly as one gets towards the Missouri River with SWE content between three and four inches being common, with locally up to five inches.

East of the Missouri River, SWE of around four and a half inches is common from Garrison on down through Bismarck and where the Missouri River enters South Dakota. Going farther east into the Prairie Pothole Region and the James River Basin, five inches of SWE is common, but there are fairly large areas with between six and eight inches of water content in the snowpack.