Let the Melt Begin!
Posted June 10, 2011 by Gregg Armstrong, Co-FounderHello again everyone,
This week reflects another odd seven days when it comes to June weather in California. A warm storm system moved in and dumped a significant amount of rain on selected parts of the state. The gauge in my backyard indicated it rained 1.75 inches on Saturday alone! If that weren’t enough, another system moved in behind the first one and the rain continued. During the first 6 days of June, California received 170% of the normal amount of precipitation for the entire month!
This cooler, wet weather only delays the melt… but not for long! We’re now entering a warmer, dryer weather pattern, so the delayed melt is about to begin. This coming weekend will feel some of the impact, and next weekend will be even bigger as the freezing elevation level rises to 15000 feet for the first time this year on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The best scenario we can hope for is actually cooler weather to continue and help slow the melt to make it more gradual… but this is unlikely to occur.
Below is this week’s Water Content and Flow Predictions. Take note of the percentages at the top…
- 611% of normal water content in Northern California
- 387% in Central California (most of our rivers)
- 219% in Southern California (Kaweah River)
That is A LOT of water waiting to get into the rivers on the way to the Pacific. Also note other yellow highlighted changes that have occurred since June 1 when the last report was created. You can also visit our River Flows page to see the flows changing for each river in real-time.
The good news about all this cool weather, big snowpack, and delayed melt is that we are going to have a wild and fun spring season — extending into the summer months, and lasting a long time! We need to plan carefully and prepare wisely, but after nearly 50 years of doing this, I am confident that we are ready. This is definitely an exciting and epic year for fun whitewater!
Gregg Armstrong
Owner, All-Outdoors