water levels on Winona pool

I watch the water level on the USGS website for the Winona pool. The water level fluctuation on this pool is unbelievable!
The roller coaster ride on this pool started before Christmas and is still going on. It was moving up and down about a foot every other day for a while. Now, on January 8th it was at 7.7 feet. Today, January 12th, it’s at 10.5 feet! It makes it hard to get on the ice without knee boots with a slop pool out 10-12 feet from shore. Anyone know why there is such a drastic fluctuation in the level? Riverruns, you hear any reason why this is happening?

Maybe BK is trying to keep ice off his hull and plays with the flow. lol

I’m no help with the current up and down stuff, but I do know the river is running high yet. Did areas north of the cities get blasted with more rain/snow last week? This higher than normal water makes me wonder what will come about next spring given the amount of wet snow we’ve seen early this winter, especially in the upper stretches of the Mississippi and St. Croix watersheds.

Jim, my BIL works on 5A. He said ice jams at trempeleau and prairie du chien are the cause of the dramatic increase in water levels.

Took a drive out to Merrick State Park yesterday. The islands are flooding again. Crazy stuff.

Caused by build up of frazil/slush ice.It’s piled-up behind Dam 6,it happened after the warm up melted the surface ice,then the temps dropped with the wind.So moving water is freezing and slush jamming in certain locations.Level went up over 6″ last Thursday in a few hours,I’m betting the dozen or so guys fishing Round lake were in for a rude surprise when they walked off.I couldn’t even get on without going past knees to solid ice,and I think those guys went out early.It was 52F when I tried,the ice edge was getting soft.

I just wish the river would go back down to somewhat “normal” levels,but betting this spring will be a doozy for high water

Its whether related, generally most pools do not fluctuate much in the winter but the river was high to begin with then look at the temps, forms of precipitation.the whether has been so inconsistent since before Thanksgiving

You couldn’t get to Third Lake in Trempealeau yesterday as the water is over the road, and this is below L&D 6. I can’t remember a more messed up 12 months on the river.

There was little to no access in Winona area on Saturday morning unless you were walking off docks. Also the current through normally dormant holes made for a real interesting bite or lack there of.