Oroville Dam updates - March 10 - 31, 2023

[Colliemom]

Thanks for the update Anne. You always do such a great job of providing information. You are way more informative than the TV people are. Glad you are staying on the alert and ready to move. If you need to. Hopefully it won’t come to that. I remember a few years back when they had all the flooding from the Mississippi River and how the river breached the levees. Man doesn’t hold a candle to mother nature.

[Cudedog]

(Scroll down to the 3/31/23 update of this thread for the most current updates)

I'm glad Anne keeps us updated on the California rains, etc. Highs only in the upper 50's, low 60's here again today and tomorrow.

UPDATE 3-18-23 - video link below

Thanks, Beth, Sue, Judy and all that have made comments. Much appreciated! Keeping track of things here is fun for me - I also enjoy reading about weather conditions in other parts of the country - Sue, Shirl, Martha - everyone, sorry if I missed you.

Lake Oroville was up over 861 feet yesterday, having risen a pretty astounding 23 feet in only 9 days!

In checking the current stats this morning, 3/18/23 @ 9:00 a.m., inflow has slowed quite a bit (27,753 cfs) while they have really ramped up water releases (current outflow 35,959 cfs).

Juan Brown of the YouTube Blancolirio Channel posted a really lovely video of Oroville Dam that he recorded from his small plane. The visuals and music on this video are really lovely. I recommend it - it really gives a good "feel" of the area in general, and Lake Oroville in particular, that one doesn't often get from the Nightly News.

Watch it if you get a chance: "Oroville UPDATE- 31,360 CFS OUTFLOW! 17 March '23:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrDMgrITAsc&t=21s

The result of this decrease/increase in flow is that the lake level has lowered about a foot, to 860.44 feet.

I took a drive up to Oroville yesterday to take a look at the dam, although I didn't get close - the dam is above the city of Oroville, and can be easily seen from about 10 miles away. LOL, I just needed to get outa Dodge.

I also wanted to take a look at what the Feather River is doing (drove over a bridge or two) looks like the Feather, while up over it's banks in some rural areas that I drove through, it is staying right where it should be here in my town (which has levees between the town and the river).

So, looking good, at least so far. More rain is in the forecast from tonight (Saturday) through Tuesday, with "chance of showers" on through next Friday.

Sunny and warm here at my house at the moment (predicted high of 68 degrees, I'm betting it might get past 70 if the clouds don't roll in), it is nice to see the sun for a change. The fruit trees and wildflowers in my backyard are blooming, and Spring is definitely in the air here.

And, yes, I will soon be grumbling about the heat.

LOL! It is what it is!

Have a GREAT Saturday, everyone!

Anne

[Irmi]

Good grief, Anne...that video is quite something! The amount of water coming down causes a spray so similar to the Niagara Falls! I heard on our morning news that more rain was expected for your area, but not as much as last week. The central FL area is now in drought conditions and we were expecting a fair amount of rain this weekend, but Mother Nature had different plans and we got little to nothing. But the winds and rain brought us much cooler temperatures. Today we're only in the mid 60's, tomorrow we'll be in the mid 70's and the rest of the week we'll be back in the 80's. Needless to say, I still have to water our plants with the hose since we got so little rain.

[OregonLuvr]

Anne that is a very interesting video. I am glad the input has slowed. At least for now. It is looking like this rain storm won't be a big event. Fingers crossed anyway, ya know, just in case.

[Cudedog]

UPDATE - 3/31/23

Thanks again for asking about the dam situation, Sue!

It is pretty much "situation normal" for the end of March. Our "rainy season" is pretty much winding down. In years in the recent past we would be seeing warm (80-ish) days (and above), and the rain would be pretty much finished. This year, there is still a bit of rain in the forecast for next week.

In years past we have had our first 100-degree day around April 1, but (as I am sure that everyone knows) we have had a banner year for precipitation, in some areas the snow pack in the Sierra (which keeps California in water through the summer months, as the snow pack melts) is 200+ % of "normal".

However, as our local meteorologist, Mark Finan (employed by a Sacramento television station) says there really isn't a such thing as "normal". California precip can vary all over the map from year to year - it has in the past, and will likely continue to do so on into the future.

Although we have had a banner year for rain here, doesn't mean that next year will continue the trend. 2017-18 (measured over the rainy season winter months - which always spans the end of one year, and the beginning of the next - of October, November, December, January, February and March) had a lot of rain, 19-20, 21-22 not so much.

But we are thankful for what we have received!

Oroville dam had recently filled to about 861 feet, with current water releases it is now down to 857 feet (as of this morning's date, above), with current outflows of 12,614 csf and inflows of 13, 567 csf.

The major part of the Sierra snowpack has not yet begun to melt, so it will be a balancing act at Oroville Dam (and for other California Dams as well) for the California Department of Water Resources from here on out.

The goal is to let enough water out to "make room" for the snowmelt that will melt slowly over the coming months and flow into California dams, including Oroville, but not to let "too much" water out so that it is not available for the millions of California residents who use this water, both directly and indirectly, all across the state.

https://www.dsrsd.com/home/showpublishe ... 8457670000

So things are good, barring a major warm storm over the Sierra which might melt the snowpack very rapidly, or an earthquake. A major storm at this time of year is becoming more and more unlikely, and although one can never quite tell when an earthquake might happen, thankfully they are fairly rare in my area as well.

Here is the latest inflow/outflow and lake level information on Oroville Dam as of this morning:

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryF?s=ORO&d=31-Mar-2023+08:34&span=25hours

Where does all of that water from Oroville go? Pretty much all over California:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville_Dam#:~:text=Since%20its%20completion%20in%201968,water%20supplies%20to%20coastal%20Southern

"Water released from Oroville Dam travels down the Feather River before joining with the Sacramento River, eventually reaching the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the SWP's California Aqueduct diverts the fresh water for transport to the arid San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Oroville–Thermalito hydroelectric facilities furnish about one-third of the power necessary to drive the pumps that lift the water in the aqueduct from the delta into the valley, and then from the valley over the Tehachapi Mountains into coastal Southern California. [i.e. the Los Angles area - about 450 miles south of Oroville dam] Water and power from the dam contribute to the irrigation of 755,000 acres (306,000 ha) in the arid San Joaquin Valley Westside and municipal water supplies to some 25 million people."

And, of course, all of this major rainfall has caused all of the grasses and native manzanita brushlands of California to have accelerated growth.

Although a full-throated spring is taking its time to get here, if we have our usual broiling-hot (105 - 110 degree days for weeks on end) summer, the tall seasonal grasses will die and become bone-dry, and the millions of acres of native manzanita chaparral brushlands that cover much of the foothills of northern California will dry (after a spurt of growth spurred by all of the rain), becoming primed and ready for the next cycle of California's seasonal wheel of change.

Can anyone guess what comes next?

Here is a hint (and a Fun Fact as well!):

"The seeds of most manzanitas and many ceanothus species require fire to germinate, as do those of a number of the wildflower species that produce spectacular spring displays following a fire."

https://baynature.org/article/the-bright-side-of-fire/#:~:text=The%20seeds%20of%20most%20manzanitas,fire%20to%20reproduce%20from%20seed.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a GREAT day!

Anne

[Colliemom]

Great video. Scary looking at all that water pouring down that spillway. Wouldn’t want to accidentally get caught in that. Hopefully things will stay sterilized. It’s good that your town has Levee’s. But then we saw what happened to those on the Mississippi River number of years ago, when they those big floods. But we can’t spend our lives worrying about that “what if’s” or we would go crazy. So, all we can do is make plans, be prepared and stay alert when the situation requires it.

I read yesterday or the day before that they are releasing some water from some of the other dams a little, bit to channel it Into the aquifer to start replenishing it while they have the water to do it. Won’t help completely alleviate the drought situation, but it’s a start. Like you said Anne, rain season is almost over. But we never know Mother Nature’s plan.