water levels????

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dimebrite
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2011/02/22 19:59:45 (permalink)

water levels????

hey does anyone know whats been going on with the water lately??? i have been noticing short intervals of the water almost being doubled for a short period. i was attributing it to the warm weather but now even today for a short period at some point the water shot up to over 600 and then went right back down. it seems as if they are doing a small release maybe at night time for a quick shot. i hope they will have the water under control this spring. i'd hate to see the same thing happen this spring that did in october. i've heard a few rumors about them holding water back to stop people from building too close to the upper reservoir. i've also heard that the levels are monitored by a new company the past 2 years and they don't know what they're doing... we all know this past october could've been avoided. maybe 6000 plus or even a little more, but 20000 plus, come on. completely uncalled for. the reservoir was chuck full for a week before that noreaster came in and it rained everyday before it came, and it was predicted for days before it came. but for some odd reason, the water was running i think 1000 up until the storm came. lets hope they can keep it together up there...
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    jcy110
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/22 20:07:27 (permalink)
    Its when the Ice jams up the gauge and you get a false reading, as you can see from the Salmon River Webcam, nothing has changed.
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    dimebrite
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/22 20:22:35 (permalink)
    ice jams??? in pineville??? i don't know about that... if you look at the pineville gauge graph it looks like a short flow increase to me...
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    draketrutta
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/22 21:38:26 (permalink)
    gauges freeze up - cold temps play funny tricks .

    the gauge on my local river has been whacko a few times over the last month.

    the USGS webpage even has a disclaimer posted that readings can be cold-related BS
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    jcy110
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/22 22:45:02 (permalink)
    I saw the same thing the night before my drift boat trip and told my guide, he told me it happens all of the time in cold weather when the ice starts to break up. I guess it makes like a log jam somewhere and the gauge sees it as a temporary release.
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    dimebrite
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/25 18:58:58 (permalink)
    well, i've actually only surveyed pineville guage for the past year, so i guess thats it; i just never really seen ice a factor up that high. i guess it messes with the guage though
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    jonnyfishon
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/27 13:11:34 (permalink)
    I have seen someone running what looks like a giant plainer board off the pinville bridge when it was there. Im guessing thats how they measure the flow. He just stood on the bridge for a while taking readings.
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    jcy110
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/27 14:46:23 (permalink)
    The USGS gauge is feed via a underwater pipe, as the water rises it rises in the gauge.  Sometimes things ice up and the freezing (expanding water) makes it look like the gauge is rising from water but its rising from ice, so you see the freeze thaw cycle (at the same time each day when the temperature range during the day is about the same).  If you could mesure the difference between 300cfs and 600cfs it might be 1/2" on the gauge. When you watch the gauge all season you will see that spike is the same amount in CFS but the higher the actual CFS is the smaller the spike appears on the graph due to the scale of the graph.  Hope this helps.
     
    Whitakers had this on their site today 2-27-2011
     
    " Were getting several calls daily about the Pineville gage reading and why the spikes are up and down. Keep in mind that during the winter slush or shelf ice can get caught in the gage, which creates an incorrect reading. We hope this helps clarify some of the calls we've been getting about the water level. " 
    post edited by jcy110 - 2011/02/27 22:00:01
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    dimebrite
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    RE: water levels???? 2011/02/28 06:25:56 (permalink)
    Yeah I saw it on their site as well. As I had said though this is the first year i ever referred to the usgs guage. Thank you for clarifying though. Im still pretty shocked about ice build up in pineville though...
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