POLSON — The warm and dry weather is taking a toll on the Flathead River Basin, with forecasts showing Flathead Lake will not reach full pool this summer.
Energy Keepers, Inc — which controls SKQ Dam, which feeds into the lake near Polson — is warning the public that streamflow runoff forecasts have dropped significantly.
Energy Keepers reports that the abnormally hot and dry conditions have forced operations at the dam to be at license-required minimums.
They're filling Flathead Lake as aggressively as possible while avoiding flood control limits, but despite these actions, the lake will not reach full pool this summer.
Energy Keepers believes the lake will reach peak levels on June 19 and then begin dropping.
Read the full news release below:
Unseasonably warm and dry conditions have significantly decreased water supply in the Flathead River Basin and spring runoff is quickly receding bringing river flows to extremely low levels. With the dry hydrologic forecasts for the remainder of 2025 will be the third year in a row of abnormally hot and dry conditions. The three years combined will be the driest consecutive years ever recorded for the Flathead Basin. These conditions have forced operations at SKQ to again be at license required minimums and filling Flathead Lake as aggressively as possible while avoiding flood control limits. In spite of these operational sacrifices by EKI, the melted snow remaining will not get Flathead Lake to full pool. Current forecasts have the lake reaching its maximum for the year of 2892.3 feet on June 19 then beginning to slowly recede to 2891.5 on July 12, 2025. Full pool is 2893.
“These unprecedented dry conditions are not only taxing on resources they are also extremely impactful to generation of electricity from the SKQ facility,” said Brian Lipscomb, EKI CEO. “Electricity generation from the SKQ facility will be 10 percent below normal for this year, add that to the two years that we have just experienced, and this will put us at 393 GWh of electricity generation below normal. That is enough electricity to power between 33,000 and 41,000 homes or a city about the size of Missoula for a year.”
Energy Keepers Inc. responded to these emerging conditions in early spring and began coordinating with its partners while implementing the license-required Drought Management Plan. On March 13, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a deviation request to allow EKI to capture as much run-off as possible rather than the full winter draft requirement. These actions protect lower Flathead River minimum flows while filling Flathead Lake as early as possible. As much runoff as possible was captured bringing lake elevations to 3 feet from full pool on May 26. Dam operators have maintained minimum flows since then.
“In early March, we approved a deviation for EKI because we were trying to avoid impacts to the community who relies on Flathead Lake,” said Leah Hamilton, Northwestern Division Reservoir Control Center water regulator. "Our goal was to coordinate actions to increase the chance of refill as early as possible while balancing needs for flood risk management; however, it’s also important to understand how much weather influences refill Pacific Northwest lakes and reservoirs,” she said. "Every water year is different, and there is a lot of uncertainty in trying to accurately predict runoff several months into the future.”
While recreational boating and fishing can continue at any lake elevation with the accessible public boat ramps, lake users should be aware that lakefront boat storage and dock access may be affected if these water level forecasts are realized. As forecasts are updated through the months of June and July EKI will update the public to any changes.
Please see updated forecasts on Flathead Lake levels with inflows and outflows at: https://energykeepersinc.com/flathead-lake-data/.
