Watching Rivers and Reservoirs

Here are two good links to keep an eye on Northwest Oregon hydrology:

http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/nwp/teacup/willamette/

That one shows diagrams and all sorts of numbers relating to Army Corps of Engineer reservoir operations.  I noticed just about all of them are mostly full tonight.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=pqr

The 2nd is the Northwest River Forecast Center here in Portland.  You can click on your closest river and see what it might do in the next few days.  Quite a rise forecast on most rivers, but AS OF NOW none are forecast to rise to flood stage.

Mark

A Soaker Ahead

I just found a great picture to use on TV tonight…don’t you agree?  I’m sure the general public would love to hear about PWAT and PRECIPITABLE WATER.  Folks love the JET STREAK lingo too.  This is the 16z IR image today (9 hours ago) annotated by the folks at NOAA.  Quite a plume of moisture headed our way.  Looks like about 12-16 hours of decent rainfall starting now and ending mid-morning tomorrow.  Then it’s back to showers/sunbreaks Wednesday afternoon behind the front while the main band of rain shifts to the south and dissipates.  I think we’ll see about 1″ in the driest parts of the metro area (western suburbs) and 2-4″ in the wettest parts of the Coast Range and Cascades.

Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelsen