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Sunday, October 12, 2008
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Temp:
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4°C
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Feels like:
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1°C
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Humidity:
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N/A%
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Hot weather may swell creeks with snowmelt, officials warn |
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Written by MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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SALMON RIVERNECHAKO RIVER
With highs of 24 C forecast for Friday and Saturday, it's expected the smaller waterways will be swollen with still-abundant snowmelt. And the problem may be amplified in the areas where there has been extensive logging of beetle-killed pine because there are fewer trees to absorb runoff.
"That's a fair thing to say," said B.C. Environment river forecast centre hydrologist Alan Chapman.
As an example, the flow in Baker Creek near Quesnel, where there has been logging, is already at top of bank and there is still a lot of snow to melt in that watershed, Chapman said.
"What you're seeing is the implications of forest on the timing of runoff," he said. "In areas where there are forests, the trees will shade the snow, they quite largely reduce the rate of snowmelt. "But once the trees are killed by the beetle, the rate of melt increases, and once they're removed by the logging, then the rate of melt increases even more."
Chapman suspects the situation is similar along the Salmon River which has been running high for more than a week.
But Horst Schulz, co-owner of Rockin's River Resort, is hopeful the worst is over after the depth of water on the campground fell to about 1.6 centimetres (four inches) on Thursday from from a peak of 4.4 cm. (11 inches) on Sunday.
"To my way of thinking, if the water was going to increase again, it wouldn't have decreased in the first place," he said. "If there was still a big snowpack up there, the volume would've stayed constant and not decreased. We'll see in the next couple of days."
Chapman said the concern about high water isn't extended to the Nechako River because the snowpack back to normal levels after the high levels accumulated last year. As for the Fraser, he said a higher-than-normal flow is predicted because of the late melt but it will still be lower than last year and there should be no significant issues.
Parents are being urged to keep children and pets well back from the banks of waterways because the high flow can make them unstable. And hikers are encouraged to take caution before crossing any bridges and if in doubt to not use the structures.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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