COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene River Basin has been experiencing historically low flows the past couple weeks because snowpack in higher elevations melted much faster and earlier this year.

Conditions are now set for historic low flows all summer, unless some major rains fall.

"We don't have any spring runoff, in essence is what's occurring right now," said Ed Moreen, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency project manager in Coeur d'Alene.

"We are at all-time lows," said Greg Clark, a hydrologist and the U.S. Geological Survey's associate director for studies in Boise.

A stream gauge - or "gage," as the USGS calls them - was first installed on the Coeur d'Alene River at Cataldo in 1911. It collected data in 1911 and 1912, from 1920-1972, and from 1986 until today.

On Monday, the gauge recorded its lowest flows yet for May 18, with a flow of 1,280 cubic feet per second. That compares with the historic average flow for May 18 of 7,500 cfs.

"That's scary," Clark said Monday. "We should be near peak flows and just starting to come down."

Historically, the river's peak flows at Cataldo are usually reached around April 22 at 8,200 cfs.

"We're probably going to see some all-time lows in summer and early fall," said Tim Merrick, a spokesman for the USGS in Boise. "We're going to be in some uncharted areas."

Another way to compare the record low flows would be to consider the record high flow for May 18 - a whopping 28,400 cfs, set in 2008, Merrick said.

The previous record low flow for May 18 at Cataldo was 1,420 cfs, which was set in 1992, a significantly dry year for Idaho.

"That's another indicator that 2015 might be shaping up to be historically dry," Merrick said.

The Coeur d'Alene River Basin's snowpack melted off very early this year, mostly in January and February and didn't get a late-winter recharge.

The snowpack was a little low going into the first part of the year, Clark and Merrick said, but wasn't raising any eyebrows. The early and rapid melt-off has received plenty of attention

Their question now: Is this the way of the future?

"Is this just an anomaly?" Merrick said. "Or is this the trend?"

The reduced streamflows will mean warmer waters, Clark said.

"Which puts stress on biology," Clark said.

The North Fork Coeur d'Alene River is also running way low, at less than 800 cfs at Enaville. For May 18, it should have been near 5,000 cfs.

The South Fork Coeur d'Alene River is doing a bit better, with flows at 444 cfs on Monday at the Pinehurst gauging station. That compares with a historic median flow of 1,400 cfs for May 18.

The St. Joe River, with its higher elevation basin and slower-melting snowpack, is also doing better than the main stem of the Coeur d'Alene River and the North Fork Coeur d'Alene River.

The St. Joe River at Calder was around 2,490 cfs on Monday, though it should have been at 8,400 cfs for May 18.