Saturday, May 19, 2007

Forecasting severe weather From the Cherry Creek News, "More than 60 researchers and forecasters from government agencies, academia, and the private sector are expected to visit the National Weather Center on the University of Oklahoma's Norman campus, this spring to work towards improving forecasts of severe weather. The Spring Experiment hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) offers an irresistible opportunity for research scientists and operational forecasters to change roles for a week during the active spring severe weather season that affects large parts of the nation." Category: Colorado Water 9:57:52 AM     Green Mountain and McPhee update From email from the Bureau of Reclamation (Kara Lamb): "The snowmelt is really coming on. Yesterday, we bumped releases up into the mid-900 cfs range. Today, we bumped up another 100 cfs to about 1050 cfs. The 1050 cfs will stay in the Lower Blue through the weekend. We will re-evaluate the run-off situation come Monday morning. Have a great weekend and stay safe out there!" From email from the Bureau of Reclamation (Vern Harrell): "The 10-day forecast for McPhee Reservoir provided by the Colorado River Forecast Center indicates that inflow into McPhee Reservoir will continue to decrease. User demand has increased and we will begin to complete filling of the reservoir. Because of these factors, we do not anticipate boatable releases from McPhee Dam this weekend (May 19 and 20). Operators began ramping down from 620 CFS this moring to 400 CFS at a rate of 50 CFS every 3 hours. The ramp down may continue below 400 CFS this weekend until user demand is met and the reservoir is filled." Category: Colorado Water 9:42:14 AM     New Greenprint Denver weblog Say hello to the Greenprint Denver weblog. Here's the RSS Feed. They're trying to generate a discussion around the recently released Climate Action Plan [pdf] and their Greenhouse Gas Inventory [pdf] report. Congratulations to Betsy and all involved with getting this going. Building a green community using the Web is a great idea for increasing awareness. We'll be watching. Category: Colorado Water 8:20:56 AM     Arkansas River rafting season outlook The rafting season on the Arkansas River is looking pretty good right now, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "Although the water level already is a little high -- 1,800 cubic feet per second in Brown's Canyon in mid-May -- the early snowmelt should taper off into a more typical runoff pattern. The scheduled draining of Clear Creek Reservoir, set for July, should make the water conditions ripe for a perfect summer. [Chuck Cichowitz] said." Category: Colorado Water 7:21:54 AM

© Copyright 2007 John Orr. Last update: 6/1/07; 6:57:06 AM.