2011 peak flows and daily forecasts
DESCRIPTION
CBRFC 2011 Stakeholder Forum November 3, 2011. 2011 Peak Flows and Daily Forecasts. OUTLINE. Brief overview of daily and peak flow forecasts Runoff Review North-South tour of spring/summer runoff December storm and Lake Mead. CBRFC Daily/Peak Forecasts. Peak Flow Forecasts - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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2011 Peak Flows and Daily ForecastsCBRFC 2011 Stakeholder Forum
November 3, 2011
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OUTLINE
• Brief overview of daily and peak flow forecasts
• Runoff Review• North-South tour of spring/summer runoff• December storm and Lake Mead
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CBRFC Daily/Peak Forecasts
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Daily Forecasts• Hydrograph time series for future 10
days (deterministic)
• 5 days of forecasted precipitation
• 10 days of forecasted temperature
• Include known future reservoir operations
• Issued as least daily by 10 am MT
• Updated multiple times a day during high flows or flood events
Peak Flow Forecasts• Snowmelt Mean Daily Maximum Flow
(April-July)
• Long Lead-Probabilistic Forecasts (10%,25%,50%, 75%, 90%)• Issued (at least) monthly from March-
June (this year weekly starting April 19)
• ~60 forecast points – UNREGULATED and REGULATED
• Regulated points HIGHLY impacted by upstream reservoir operations
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Daily Forecast
Peak Flow Forecasts
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2011 Runoff Review
Where did we start?
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April 1 Peak flow forecasts:- Very significant chances
for flooding in Utah, Colorado
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Flooding and High Flows
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• Wettest area was northern Colorado• Upper Colorado also very wet• Gunnison divided wet from normal• Dolores, San Juan basins near normal
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Yampa River Basin
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Yampa / White Rivers generally peaked in June
Very high (many records) snowpack
Cool June somewhat mitigated high flows although rivers flowed high for several weeks
Record or near record peaks
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DAILY
PEAKS
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UPPER COLORADO
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Upper Colorado includes many high elevation basins that peaked late into June or early July
Near record snowpack caused high flows
High flows were mitigated by cool June temperatures
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DAILY
PEAKS
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REGULATED PEAK FLOW FORECAST
•Numerous upstream reservoirs and diversions
•Assumptions included:• Many reservoirs spilling• Spills occurring during peaks
•Reservoir operations mitigated spills
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Gunnison
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Gunnison basin divided wet conditions to the north and near average to the south. Hwy 50 was a rough dividing line
Peaks mostly in early June with continued high flows through June and even July (monsoon moisture)
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DAILY
PEAKS
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SAN JUAN BASIN
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San Juan Basin much drier with near to below average conditions
Peaks mostly in early June with continued high flows through June
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DAILY
PEAKS
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SUMMARY
• Runoff characteristics are largely determined by the day-to-day spring weather. – Record snowpack increased the chances for flooding;
however, flooding was not widespread– Small snow pack years can flood with the right
sequence of spring temperatures
• Long lead and daily forecasts performed relatively well
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SUMMARY
• Areal snow cover
• Struggled with some reservoir release schedules
• Temperature forecasts in late May/early June were too high causing daily forecasts to be to high
WHERE DID WE GO WRONG?
WHAT ARE WE DOING TO FIX ERRORS?• Snow covered area project (stay tuned)
• Reservoir releases- more information from users!
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December Event and Lake Mead
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Pre Holiday Storm:- Lake Mead up ~2 feet from
local runoff- Large snow accumulation
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QUESTIONS???