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chris
Site Admin
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Posted: Apr 4, 2012 Post Subject: Tuolumne - Lower and Cherry Creek flows 2012
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Recreationists,
We are rounding the corner for another boating season. Hard to believe winter is over and we are lucky to have had one!
While the precipitation and snowpack are trailing well behind normal and we are still a few months out from the scheduled rafting season - I can bring some good news on flows of the Tuolumne.
Currently with project releases, spill at Eleanor, flows from Middle and South Fork and other accretions there is >1100 cfs at Lumsden. I expect these conditions to continue throughout April. There will be some variability in flow conditions which will follow both powerhouse generation patterns and natural snowmelt runoff or precip events. Do note that drafts from Holm Powerhouse are not at the levels of the "scheduled boating season" and the spill and other flows account for more than half of the current flow - so flows will be weather dependent for the time being. Flows in general should remain in the 1000 to 2500 cfs range over the next few weeks. As more snowmelt is triggered flows will go up in the Middle and South Forks.
The drafts are subject to change and I will keep folks posted if substantial changes are expected to occur."
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Recreationists:
Warm temperatures have set in and it will continue to warm up through the weekend. We are seeing low elevation snowmelt, while the higher elevation snow is not quite ripe yet (that is snow hydrology jargon for not ready to melt yet). Right now on the river you are seeing full HPH releases, not quite full releases at KPH, minimum releases from Hetch Hetchy and Cherry, Lake Eleanor spilling at the hands of Mother Nature, and snowmelt starting up on Middle and South Fork. I am expecting Eleanor spill to continue to rise along with Middle and South Fork, but total flow is going to be in the very enjoyable range for boaters.
Operationally you will see the around the clock pattern from HPH, but some variability on the KPH side with releases below KPH increasing during the weekday-daytime hours and running flat at its current rate over the weekend.
So flow estimates at Lumsden this weekend will be in the 2500 to 3200 range. Tomorrow (Friday Apr 20) and next week it will be in the 2500 to 3400 range (this range reflects the variability in flows below Early Intake).
Enjoy the first heat wave of the Spring!"
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Folks:
The hot temperatures and sunshine melted a lot of snow last weekend and probably made the trips down the river quite enjoyable for April. We are in for some changes in the weather with a return of cooler and somewhat wet weather at the end of the week, followed by more sunshine.
There are some changes in releases now on the schedule for next week: Releases from Hetch Hetchy will begin to ramp up on May 1st to 1600 cfs by the end of the day, on May 2nd ramping will continue and a peak release of 4100 cfs for 4-hours is scheduled for mid-day. Ramping down will commence on May 2nd following the 4 hour peak release and flows will continue to drop on May 3rd. Because of the travel time from Hetch Hetchy to Lumsden the peak rising flows on May 1st and May 2nd will pass Lumsden in the evening and night time hours of May 1 and 2. So please secure your boats and be on high ground for the nights of May 1st & 2nd.
Here are the flow estimates, the ranges attempt to capture the uncontrolled reaches and spill rates at Eleanor:
April 25-30: 2900-3700
May 1st: 3200-3800 in the morning and rising throughout the day. By evening hours flows will be near 5000 cfs
May 2nd: 5000-5300 cfs in the morning and rising throughout the day when high flows arrive in the late afternoon at around 7000-7700 cfs. Following the peak, flows will begin to taper to ~5200-5600 cfs
May 3rd: 5200-5600 in the morning and dropping throughout the day, by late afternoon flows will be in the 3900-4500
May 4th: 3200-4000 cfs range.
Please be aware of these increased flows. If there are changes I will keep folks informed."
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scubab
Member
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| Posted: Apr 25, 2012Post Subject: summer T flows
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HI thanks for the updates on the tuolumne,
Will their be summer flows on the T and how long will the season be?
thanks b
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chris
Site Admin
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| Posted: Apr 27, 2012Post Subject: Re: summer T flows
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| scubab wrote: | | Will their be summer flows on the T and how long will the season be? |
Yes, indeed, usual times and flows. Scheduled releases will be from end of May through Labor Day weekend. I have the schedule and will post it soon.
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chris
Site Admin
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| The Tuolumne schedule is now published here.
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Folks,
Following the higher flow release from Hetch Hetchy this past week, flows should remain in a reasonable flow range for the remainder of snowmelt, barring any huge surprises. For those watching streamflow gages, you can see the Middle Fork and South Fork have appeared to be on the recession limb and will work their way down. Inflows from some of the higher elevation watersheds do have some continued melt, but the snow survey measurements are showing a lot of snowpack loss since the April 1st snow surveys. It will take more heat and sunshine at the upper elevations to push flows back up.
Flows will be in the 2200-3300 cfs range over the next week. Some of the variation will be accounted for by PH operations and reservoir releases, but also due to the slight cooling trend we have over the next few days and the return to normal temperatures as we enter next week.
Also: we will be doing maintenance at Holm on the "No Water Wednesday" of June 6th, so at this time given the snowpack and runoff there will not be boatable flows on June 6th.
As always have fun on the river ... Adam"
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Folks:
The warm temperatures and nice flows are likely making for some great times on the river. You can keep enjoying it! No real big changes, a slight increase in Hetch Hetchy releases and it will begin spilling Sunday or so. Expect rising flows when it comes up. MF and SF of the T are pretty much done and are receding.
I expect flows at Lumsden on May 12th to remain in the 2500 to 2700 cfs range. Starting Sunday as HH spills flows will increase and spread that range up to ~3200 cfs. That should go through most of early next week. Starting on May 16, HPH generation will vary, with lower releases at night and early morning hours. But overall flows will be in the 2000 to 3200 range. The upper end of the flow would be passing Lumsden at 9 or so.
Another important piece of information: HHWP has canceled its intention of drawing Cherry Lake down. This will impact the "extra" water discussed at the recreation meeting. HHWP will continue to follow the schedule as posted. There will be some water outside the scheduled release, but it will not be dependable throughout the season. HHWP is just as disappointed as the river folks as we had hoped to be able to do some long overdo repairs.
Enjoy the water and warm temps!! "
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello folks:
As most of you can see, Mother Nature is governing the Tuolumne River right now and doing a fine job. Hetchy is full and spilling and Eleanor is right at the top and releases are being made. HPH and KPH both have releases and will continue to do so. There will be some reduction and variability in flows below Holm. Even with the reduction in flows, I don't see the Cherry Crk run getting below 2000 cfs this weekend. For those waiting, hope for cool weather to slow any melt left up the hill OR hope for hot weather to squeeze it down the hill faster.
The Middle and South Forks are well on the way down. Middle Fork watershed tops out near 8500 feet and we know all that snow is gone. What is left is way up the hill.
In store for the mainstem of the Tuolumne from now through next week is the flow range we are seeing now at 3500 to 4000 range and slowly receding as snowmelt slows down. Flows will be above 3000 for the entire period. I expect HH extra releases to continue to almost the end of the May.
Enjoy the beautiful spring weather!"
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Folks:
Flows are slowing down with the cooler temperatures and the disappearing snowpack. There is still extra water running down the river and around the clock flows. So what to expect: Thurs and Friday will be in the 2200 to 2500 cfs range. Saturday flows will be down a little lower in the 2100 to 2400, Sunday thru Monday flows will dip down lower and be in the 1900 to 2300 range.
By early June we will be in the normal boating schedule. Enjoy the last days of around the clock water!"
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Folks:
As some folks experienced flows dropped way down with the cold snap late last week. We had snowfall even at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. This did cause us to change some of our operations and reduced flows on the river. There is still a little bit of snow waiting to come down, but there is not much and it will not last long with the projected temperatures over the next few days.
Currently the typical boating flows are scheduled starting today (May 30) and on into next week. So expect the typical ~1100. Flows outside the "boating schedule" will vary to meet our generation obligations. Flows could increase above ~1100 if Hetch Hetchy comes up to the spillway again, I don't expect that would occur until Sunday or Monday and I do not expect it to be drastic changes.
As a reminder June 6th is a no water day.
Enjoy the warm temps and sunshine."
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hello River Folks:
As folks can see snowmelt is well on its way tapering down. The rain that fell on Monday has extended spill at Hetch Hetchy and kept flows in a slightly higher range. Even with the warmer weather returning, I do not expect flows to do much, so expect flows to remain in the same range. Releases are being made from HPH during the boating hours, which brings flows at Lumsden to the ~1400-1800 range during the typical hours. During the off hours flows are in the 600-800 range. Expect flows to recede down throughout the week with no major changes. The Cherry Creek run is open with flows under 2000, enjoy the bit of extra water on that stretch, it will not last for long -and will not make it through next week, unless we start getting t-storm activity.
Enjoy the sunshine and warming temps"
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"We had a unit go down at HPH at around 0915 HRS. We are working diligently to bring the unit back online, but there is currently no estimated time of return to service. This means that there will be a drop in water flows on the river but there is 2 hrs 15 mins of high flow. I will update with any new information. I have sent staff up there to make notifications - hopefully making it there before folks shove off for the day."
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Here is what we know: the unit is not back online. Right now we know the unit WILL BE DOWN THURSDAY AUG 2nd. We cannot say with any certainty when the unit will be back online or how long it will be down. I understand that this is not great for planning. We hope to have better and more definitive information tomorrow.
We do intend to continue to run the available unit on the typical schedule. Again we do not know when the unit will be back up and running, but there will be ~700 cfs on the river (at Meral's/Lumsden) during boating hours. I realize this does close down the Cherry Creek Run.
This is the best and most recent information I have. I have passed other info to inquiring minds and this does differ slightly.
I will keep you posted if there is any breaking news. Adam"
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chris
Site Admin
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Hetch Hetchy Water and Power reports as follows:
"Hi Folks:
Unfortunately we still do not have the unit back online and will not likely have it back in service this weekend. As of now I am working under the assumption that it will be down until at least through Tuesday. It would be nice to be wrong about this.
We do have a small change to help alleviate issues getting past "Rock Garden" and other shallow spots that many boats are getting stuck at. Starting Saturday August 4th, boating releases will be extended by 2 hours -the hours are added at the end of the usual timing. So there will be roughly 700 cfs arriving at Lumsden around the usual time (9ish) and continue for 6 hours.
I will update folks if I have new information on return to "regular" flow conditions.
Sorry to bring bad news, but a least there is a little sugar coating. Adam"
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