big river flows next week
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:48 pm
From Sunday into next week the first good warm spell this spring is forecast to occur. With that warmth, it is likely many of our Sierra rivers will record their peak flows that are likely to build quickly over a few days. So will be interesting in reading how big those flows get. Every few years in May we get a sizeable warm rain that can also cause heavy runoff by melting snow even faster. For years I've monitored such events from the CDEC Daily Full Natural Flow page.
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/stages/FNF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
To watch any of these big flows one has to find a big river where there are no major dams above and to which one has access. In other words not still closed due to winter snow. That eliminates the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Kern, Mokelumne, American, Yuba, and Feather that have lots of dams.
Anywhere along SR140 into Yosemite, especially the big talus rapids above El Portal, can be impressive. Another spot I like is on the Kings just above Boyden Cave. Of course the Kings has a much larger basin and higher flows than the Merced.
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/stages/FNF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
To watch any of these big flows one has to find a big river where there are no major dams above and to which one has access. In other words not still closed due to winter snow. That eliminates the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Kern, Mokelumne, American, Yuba, and Feather that have lots of dams.
Anywhere along SR140 into Yosemite, especially the big talus rapids above El Portal, can be impressive. Another spot I like is on the Kings just above Boyden Cave. Of course the Kings has a much larger basin and higher flows than the Merced.