Hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Here in Oregon it has been a wild winter with lots of rain, lots of snow in the mountains, and even a bit of snow in Estacada and Portland. After some really wonderful boating conditions over the last 3 seasons, 2011 is shaping up to be really good too. Due to above average every month so far this winter, we are expecting great water levels come spring and summer.

Predicting Oregon Water Levels

Like all things weather related, predicting spring and summer water levels several months in advance can be challenging. The Oregon Cascade Mountains are consist primarily of volcanic rock formations which are extremely porus. What does this mean for us rafters? Well, we can think of the mountains as a giant sponge which is dry in the fall. The sponge begins to fill in the fall with rainfall. Snow piles up on top during the winter. The sponge begins to fill to maximum storage in the spring when snow begins to melt and the rains continue. During the summer, the last of the water stored underground in the mountains finds its way to the rivers through various springs even in the driest months of the year. The Clackamas River unlike many other rivers, benefits both from lots of rain and/or lots of snow. Either way, that mountain sponge gets filled up and provides adequate water for summer rafting. We get our highest spring and summer flows from a cold, wet winter and spring, exactly what we’ve been experiencing so far this winter!

 

Here are a couple graphs that show where we are this winter compared to other years. The first is a graph that shows Snow Water Equivalent (the amount of water in the snow when it melts). You can see that 2011 is about average for snow so far this winter. You can also see the huge late winter increase in snow we had in 2008 and 2009 which resulted in historic river levels those seasons.

 

 

This graph shows both precipitation and snow for this winter and last winter. You can see that are precipitation is slightly above average this winter and well above last year.

 

So, barring any major changes in the weather this winter, we expect healthy spring flows for rivers like the Sandy Gorge, Hood River and Molalla River and great summer flows on the Clackamas River.

Blue Sky Happenings

We are working on several exciting developments for the 2011 season. We continue to strive to be the most innovative company on the Clackamas River, providing the highest quality trips possible. We’ll update the blog once as we get more details.

Written by peteg - Visit Website