No Stick Waving Today

Last summer I wrote about fishing the American River and made some mention of the flow of the river. In the pictures below, the water level was running at about 4900 cfs.

I took a shot uphill from where I was standing, fishing for Shad last summer.

Today I took a shot from an area right by that spot and from the top of the hill. Big difference in the amount of water in the river.

Then on the way out to Folsom to do some Christmas shopping (sorry guys, nothing for you), I stopped by Lake Natoma Dam and took a shot there. This is a very unusual sight. Most of the time the water is released out of a little chute on the far side of the dam. The unusual sight is having 14 of the 18 gates open and releasing water. Because of the impending storm, the Department of Water Resources is lowering Folsom Lake which is upstream from Lake Natoma. Double click on the picture and get a good look at lot bunch of water going into the American River.

I added a little video so you could get a grasp on the sound of the dam release.

Here's a quick recap of the releases.

Last Summer 4900 cfs
Tuesday (the 14th) I reported 16,000 cfs. It was actually 14,533 cfs.
Today........29,156 cfs.

Let me tell you, that is a whole lot of water. So much so, that Fire and Rescue has told boaters not to go on the river because if they have trouble, Fire & Rescue will probably not come out and help.

This is not the fullest I've ever seen the river, though. In 1986 we had so much water that the river was full, bank to bank and they were talking about blowing Dyke 8 (in the back of Folsom Lake) to relieve pressure on the dam. That alone would have flooded a good part of, what is now Rancho Cordova.

So, as the title says, no stick waving today.

Till next time.

Mark