Quick drought update
Inflows at Lake Michie are at 18 cubic feet per second as of 7:45 this morning. They look like they're still climbing. At the Little River reservoir, inflows appear to have peaked at around 7 cfs earlier this morning, and have already begun to drop. That translates into a rate of about 16 - 17 million gallons/day, if it keeps up, or a little less than what Durham has been using on a daily basis. So it'll stretch our supply out by a touch, but doesn't really replenish the reservoirs. We still can't tell from the city's website whether any Eno River water is being diverted to the Teer Quarry, or if it's just getting natural runoff.
Current forecast is for rain/snow on Saturday, with total snow accumulations of 1-3 inches. That only translates to about 1/4" or so of rain, so no major replenishment should be expected there either. There's rain in the forecast beginning Tuesday and continuing trough next weekend, but we all know how accurate those are. Keep your fingers crossed, your showers to three minutes, and for the love of God, don't flush unless you have to.
Current forecast is for rain/snow on Saturday, with total snow accumulations of 1-3 inches. That only translates to about 1/4" or so of rain, so no major replenishment should be expected there either. There's rain in the forecast beginning Tuesday and continuing trough next weekend, but we all know how accurate those are. Keep your fingers crossed, your showers to three minutes, and for the love of God, don't flush unless you have to.
Labels: drought
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
2 Comments:
The real reason for hope for tomorrow isn't the size of the precipitation, but that yesterday's rain was very good for ground saturation. That means that anything we get this weekend is likely to go into the reservoirs. Plus, it looks like we could see a third small storm early next week.
Looking at the historical graphs on the city's website, it's pretty clear that the first three months of the year are almost always the reliable drought-breakers. The dreary, cold rains of late January and early February may suck as far as being in them goes, but they're the real champions of replenishment. (Fall tropical storms are good for providing big surpluses, but of course they're not reliable, and we haven't gotten a good heavy hit from one in at least two years.)
If nothing else, these slow steady drizzles are good for groundwater restoration, which hopefully means we can avoid two straight terrible years for farmers. (I don't know if I can live through two straight years of bad peaches.)
By
Unknown, at 12:19 PM
Yeah - median inflows have historically been in the 100 cfs range at Lake Michie this time of year, and 50 cfs at Little River, although that data doesn't go back as far.
It takes about 31 cfs to meet our current 20 million gallon per day demand. So 6 weeks at 150 cfs would replenish the reservoirs to a 6-7 month supply.
If we could get it. Hopefully, everything we get tomorrow and through the week will run into the reservoirs.
By
Barry, at 12:30 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home