Snowpack and Stream Data

[Glacier]

Brenda Mine is now at its highest point ever for this date (records began in 1992).

Here's the headwaters of Mission Creek.

Here's another outside of the Okanagan (because I happen to have this data available I Castanet lets me post 3 graphs at once).

[steve mc]

Islath lk snowpac is the same as brenda snow pillow record go back to 1980 whiterocks 1952 both on westside whiterock is higher up then the other 2 you could compare to see if this is the highest sometimes higher snwpac means the melt extend into later july not alway a bad thing it depend on how fast it melts still 4to 5 weeks from peak flows.

[Glacier]

Top 3 snowpacks recorded in the Okanagan since 1970...

SUMMERLAND RESERVOIR
1972
1975
2018

MCCULLOCH
2018
1975
1972

BOULEAU LAKE (northwest corner of Okanagan)
1975
1974
1976

VASEUX CREEK
1974
1972
2018

OYAMA LAKE
1997
1975
2018

POSTILL LAKE
1974
1975
1971

GRAYSTOKE LAKE
1972
1971
1974

ABERDEEN LAKE
1975
2018
1997

BIG WHITE MOUNTAIN
1974
1975
1976

CARMI
1975
1972
1974

MISSION CREEK
1999
2018
1974


To sum up:
1975 made the above list 8 times,
1974 = 7 times,
2018 = 6 times,
1972 = 5 times,
1971 = 2 times,
1976 = 2 times,
1997 = 2 times,
1999 = 1 time.

So, 5 of the top 8 occurred in the 1970s, 2 in the 1999s, and the other was 2018.

[Glacier]

[JoeS]

how current is that data?
from another post on here snow pack data is only collected one a month

[Glacier]

how current is that data?
from another post on here snow pack data is only collected one a month

Automated stations like in the graphs above report every hour. The manual stations like McCulloch are measured once per month.

[Glacier]

Snowpacks are melting and creeks are rising. Brenda mine is tanking. At this rate, it will be lower than last year by month's end...

[andrea-lake]

First big spike forecast for Mission Creek this week

The first chart below is the current BC River Forecast Centre’s forecast for Mission Creek, showing the flows peaking on or about May 2nd at close to 60 cubic metres per second (as shown on the left axis).

To put these flows in perspective, refer to the second and third charts below which show these flows in relation to what happened last year.

Thankfully the peak is not projected to be as high as it was on May 2nd of last year, when it spiked close to 80 cubic metres per second (orange line as measured on the right axis). The green line shows that last year, the water level (as shown on the left axis) rose 1.2 metres from its level on April 1st to the peak on May 2nd. This year, it should not spike as high, given that the flows are less.

To estimate how high Mission Creek will rise, we can look at the May 10th peak last year, which has roughly the same flow rate as the upcoming May 4th peak. Based on these flows, the creek level rose 1 meter from its low point on April 1st.

Here is the link to the BC River Forecast Centre. Unfortunately, they don't publish a high and low error margin around their forecasts. In monitoring the forecasts last year, we saw there can be SUBSTANTIAL revisions day-by-day so you need to refresh the data in the link below on a daily basis. Also, please read the disclaimer at the link regarding use of their data.
http://bcrfc.env.gov.bc.ca/freshet/clever/08NM116.PDF

[Glacier]

When 1 million acres of your watershed has burned due to the plateau fire, you can expect extreme water flows the following spring...

[Glacier]

Well the FakeNewsMedia is generating massive hysteria yet again by claiming the snowpack is 200% of normal. The fact is, since May 1st, half the snowpack has melted at the mid elevations, and even at the high elevations it has melted significantly, so it's no longer 200% of normal. Not even close.

[gman313]

Well the FakeNewsMedia is generating massive hysteria yet again by claiming the snowpack is 200% of normal. The fact is, since May 1st, half the snowpack has melted at the mid elevations, and even at the high elevations it has melted significantly, so it's no longer 200% of normal. Not even close.

fakenewsagain.png

there saying 200% of normal for this time of year.....lol. Not 200% of what it was at peak snowback lol

but yes the headline is very sensationalist.

[LTD]

Well the FakeNewsMedia is generating massive hysteria yet again by claiming the snowpack is 200% of normal. The fact is, since May 1st, half the snowpack has melted at the mid elevations, and even at the high elevations it has melted significantly, so it's no longer 200% of normal. Not even close.

fakenewsagain.png

have you been to the high elevation snowpack i would say not because you are very much wrong my friend

[tsayta]

Nope. Not wrong. There is not a lot of area at that elevation. Low elevations have the most area but the least pack. Mid elevation holds the most total water equivalent. Those reservoirs are now gone. The snow pillows measure the upper pack only. Older pillows measure weight force on the bag. The newer ones use an elevated down looking sensor. They can only 'see' what is at the higher elevations.

[LTD]

so neither of you have been up then, and I'm not referring to mid elevation I'm referring to upper elevation as in whats feeding mission creek at the moment and for the next month

[tsayta]

so neither of you have been up then, and I'm not referring to mid elevation I'm referring to upper elevation as in whats feeding mission creek at the moment and for the next month

Was up yesterday