Drought Buster??

I was just at Melonies last week and the amount of water that would need to come in just blows me away. Even with this awesome winter snow pack I just can't wrap my brain around the idea that it's gonna fill come spring. Look at how low it was last Tuesday.

Here's the thing I don't get: If they're worried about jeopardizing the integrity of the bridge, why don't they just pull that houseboat back and tie it off rather than demolishing it and sending it down the slough for other boaters to hit it or parts of it this next season? Talk about kicking the can down the road..... I'd really like to understand the why about that. I was just there yesterday "supporting Wimpy's" and there was plenty of room to pull that thing back. The folks there told me the owners of that houseboat had just remodeled the inside of it, but hadn't increased their insurance on it since the remodel. Then, someone else's boat was the cause for that boat to break away from it's dock. Such a bummer for them.

I know exactly what happened but exactly who gave the order to do it...Not sure... I heard one excavator operator was worried about possible liability...But there is a history and if you saw the boat that hit first it sank in about 5 seconds...I saw it so I was very hesitant to get on them at first. A coastie was there and claimed their boat with 2 250horse outboards wouldn't pull them back against the current. The one they started on was the remodel which was totally sideways in front of the bridge ...If it goes down it creates a dam instantly and could then quickly wash out those levees....The bridge is supported by 2 levees. The unwritten rule is if a boat touches the bridge it will be destroyed asap.

After the FD tied off the ship of fool's it was maybe 10' from touching so myself and 4 others pulled it backwards against the current using ropes (the outdrives were not able to back up he said they would just pop up). We re-securred it far enough away hopefully.

I did let tower park know to be on the lookout for a ghost ship ☠

And I'm on the team that says they both should have been saved and could have been saved. Easily.

I've let those owners know they can have full access to my footage and all the info we know about the negligent operation at New Hope Landing that let that POS fill up and sink taking all those beautiful boats with it...Yep big-time liability and its thought that the negligent marina operator failed to require the proof of liability insurance he's supposed to have on file...

Ahhhhh the Brown Trout has arrived!

If New Melones does fill up we are going to drain it for a 3" fish.

No not exactly. The red is the average % of full for this day.

Originally Posted by bftskir

I've let those owners know they can have full access to my footage and all the info we know about the negligent operation at New Hope Landing that let that POS fill up and sink taking all those beautiful boats with it...Yep big-time liability and its thought that the negligent marina operator failed to require the proof of liability insurance he's supposed to have on file...

That's a relatively new harbor master, right? Like new last year? If he's the one I'm thinking of, he's a real "gem."

Cool drone video of Berryessa draining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxOOnKL265I

Originally Posted by bcoppinger

Cool drone video of Berryessa draining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxOOnKL265I

Cool vid. Thanks posting it.

It's official, wettest winter in recorded history in the Sierras. Mt. Rose has broken its previous record of 600" by over 3'. 53' of snow with more on the way.

What resort are those pics from?? Its been a long time since I have seen them digging out chair lifts!

They're all different. Sugar bowl, Homewood, and Kirkwood. I think. It's pretty much the same everywhere. I've never seen so many days lost to resorts being closed due to too much snow. I'm a snowboard instructor for Junior Ski Program here and we've only had two days of actual Saturdays this year at our little hill because of too much snow. Squaw has already announced they will be open through July 4th. Looks like a 4th of July double header this year! Snowboard in the morning, wakeboard in the afternoon.

The Delta is officially closed indefinitely enforced by coastguard and sheriff.

Is the Delta closed for debris in the water or levee damage? Sorry if I missed something earlier on, alot of stuff going on in this thread LOL

Very High water levels

Gotcha

Melonies is up to 69% when this thread started it was only at 39% hard to believe that in fall of 2016 Melonies was as low as 10%

I have to make a trip back up to see it again. I just can't wrap my brain around that much more water comming in and filling that lake. My gut says Melonies is gonna fill this year, fingers crossed

Anything fed by the Sierras is going to start filling really fast right now. It's flat out hot up there right now.

Ok I'm fully over being a skeptic. New Melonies is gonna fill this year in my opinion we have not had rain in 10+ days and the lake is comming up no problem. Warm Temps are melting our Seria Snow and Huge lakes like Melonies are going up by 1% every other day. It's at 71% and on a normal winter we can expect 30% of the lakes volume to come from snow run off and seeing how much snow we have we should fill No problem. Fingers crossed and Knocking on wood. I'm glad I went to Melonies early on and saw it super low because to see how much water need to come to fill this sucker is amazing.

State officials measured the snow/water content today we have
93 Inches of snow . Snow pack is 183% of normal. Deepest SPRING snow pack since 2011

And now if the Feds and cal are going to hold the water or like 2011 record water release it to "water" the delta smelt in the bay and delta. You would still have 2011behind the dams if they had not done this

Just on the other side of the Sierras, we have 190" of snow still. They calculated that as 87" of water.

Originally Posted by granddaddy53

And now if the Feds and cal are going to hold the water or like 2011 record water release it to "water" the delta smelt in the bay and delta. You would still have 2011behind the dams if they had not done this

You know that the water behind the dams is for three purposes, right? Ag, SoCal, and power generation (with a nod to flood control).

Farmers and LA would've sucked all of the (tiny amount of) water that was released to protect endangered species if they could've. No way on earth there'd still be 2011 water behind the dams.

Originally Posted by shawndoggy

You know that the water behind the dams is for three purposes, right? Ag, SoCal, and power generation (with a nod to flood control).

Farmers and LA would've sucked all of the (tiny amount of) water that was released to protect endangered species if they could've. No way on earth there'd still be 2011 water behind the dams.

I think you've got those purposes out of whack. I'm betting it's flood control, SoCal, ag and then power.

Originally Posted by markj

I think you've got those purposes out of whack. I'm betting it's flood control, SoCal, ag and then power.

Nah, I'm pretty dead-on. Here's the history of the CVP, which was first and foremost about ag:
https://www.usbr.gov/history/cvpintro.html

(of course if you think about it "flood control" and "ag" are pretty much two sides of the same coin... farmers definitely want controlled and predictable releases not floods)

And here's the history of the california state water project, which is about watering SoCal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califo..._Water_Project

That's not ALL of the dams, but most. You've got others like Bullards Bar which was primarily built for hydro power, but also serves as a flood control buffer and sells water downstream too. And of course all of the PG&E dams scattered through the sierra.

Folsom is the only one I can think of that was primarily built for flood control, but surely there are others. But by capacity, Folsom is relatively small.

One thing Environmentalist & the Feds did with our water or are TRYING to do is add Fishery to its list of To do's, That's right our Dams and water ways were never intended to be used as a Fishery. All this calling for extra water in the NAME of FISH was never why these dams were built. They tack this on to the list of things they are to do and that's when we have record water release. The main body of the lake was 58-60 this weekend. They were letting in s much water that the water temp dropped to 42" degrees I have NEVER seen it that cold.

Jump in the water is fine!
19 is lake Depth
42 is Temp Brrrrr

Which lake is 42?

Originally Posted by shawndoggy

Nah, I'm pretty dead-on. Here's the history of the CVP, which was first and foremost about ag:
https://www.usbr.gov/history/cvpintro.html

(of course if you think about it "flood control" and "ag" are pretty much two sides of the same coin... farmers definitely want controlled and predictable releases not floods)

And here's the history of the california state water project, which is about watering SoCal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califo..._Water_Project

That's not ALL of the dams, but most. You've got others like Bullards Bar which was primarily built for hydro power, but also serves as a flood control buffer and sells water downstream too. And of course all of the PG&E dams scattered through the sierra.

Folsom is the only one I can think of that was primarily built for flood control, but surely there are others. But by capacity, Folsom is relatively small.

Thanks for the reading assignment and don't call me Shirley. I still say flood control trumps ag. No way are they gonna risk lives and multiple billions of dollars worth of real estate to water plants.

Originally Posted by markj

Thanks for the reading assignment and don't call me Shirley. I still say flood control trumps ag. No way are they gonna risk lives and multiple billions of dollars worth of real estate to water plants.

Mark, I was addressing the the "why" of why these dams exist in the first place. If you don't like reading or facts, then I guess you are going to believe what you want.

The why is mostly Ag and thirsty SoCal. You may not like that, but that's why they were built, and that's (mostly) where the water that's behind them goes.

Low and behold, the existence of dams also jacks up the natural spawning grounds of the fish that used live in wild rivers, endangering them. So there's definitely an endangered species act overlay when water is in short supply.

Easy now. The only thing I was really challenging is what sounded like your contention that ag use overrides the flood protection of the valley. No way are they not gonna release water ahead of a big storm when the lakes are near full because they want to save more water for ag. That's all I was saying.

Originally Posted by markj

Easy now. The only thing I was really challenging is what sounded like your contention that ag use overrides the flood protection of the valley. No way are they not gonna release water ahead of a big storm when the lakes are near full because they want to save more water for ag. That's all I was saying.

we agree.

Mark: just to be clear the whole lake was not 42. It was 56-58 in the center of the lake and as we went up river to the inlet (where water from the bottom on New Melonies comes intoto tulloch) that's where it was 42, and only while they were pushing the water. You can clearly tell when they are pushing water. It feels like someone turned on the AC and the water is moving at about 5mph

Originally Posted by grant_west

Mark: just to be clear the whole lake was not 42. It was 56-58 in the center of the lake and as we went up river to the inlet (where water from the bottom on New Melonies comes intoto tulloch) that's where it was 42, and only while they were pushing the water. You can clearly tell when they are pushing water. It feels like someone turned on the AC and the water is moving at about 5mph

That's crazy Grant! I've heard about huge temp swings like that on the Colorado under Hoover Dam... that the water is ALWAYS cold.

Originally Posted by grant_west

Mark: just to be clear the whole lake was not 42. It was 56-58 in the center of the lake and as we went up river to the inlet (where water from the bottom on New Melonies comes intoto tulloch) that's where it was 42, and only while they were pushing the water. You can clearly tell when they are pushing water. It feels like someone turned on the AC and the water is moving at about 5mph

That makes sense. Sure wouldn't feel good though if you were riding, surfing (whatever) in the warmer temp, only to fall in the colder temp. That would be a wake up.

42? Not bad... I've seen the Delta at 40 before...So you discovered "snow runoff" ... LOL

Andy: we have always had cold water rushes threw our lake. The upriver section of tulloch was always NOT very popular because it was always cold. But in the last 4-6 years yes they have been less cold because of the drought and them not pushing water the temps have been ok. Last autumn new Melonies was at only 15% of Full so the water our lake was getting from new Melonies was not cold at all. Now that Melonies is at 77% as of today yes we have "RE discovered" snow melt. I'm sure all snow melt run off lakes in the Aera will have their own cold water inlet spots. Interesting to know lakes like San Antonio and Nacimento are rain water run off lakes, so they should not have these what we call Polar Dive sections.

When you compare this years rainfall with other recorded record rainfall years its only in the top 20 of all time rainfall years. That's pretty crazy News was saying flood of 1861-62 turned the entire Sacramento valley into a giant river. Crazy

Ok and just to be clear the numbers above are for "SF" only not the entire state of Ca, the rest of the state like the Serria's are reporting record snow fall.