Sunday, December 12, 2010

Videos of NW Rivers

Here in the Northwest we have something better than storm chasing....after big rainfall events, head to the rivers, and particularly major falls...if you can get there. Some amazing videos of local rivers.

Here is the South Fork of the Stillaguamish at Granite Falls

or Snoqualmie Falls

A good summary of the NWS flood warnings is found at:,1,1,1,1,1,1,1&toggles=10,7,8,2,9,15,6

Here is a graphic from it showing observed or potential flooding around the area:

A number of flooding river and some represent major or moderate flooding (Skokomish, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Satsop, Skykomish). How is this done? The National Weather Service takes rainfall observations and atmospheric model forecasts and use them to drive hydrological models of the flow in local rivers. These simulations create plots of future streamflow in time called hydrographs. We run such as system at the UW as well--here is an example of the output for the north fork of the Stillaguamish near Arlington:


epjmcginley said...

My favorite creek, which flows out of the Capitol Forest north to the sound, was wide and brown and churning impressively today. I could not wait to get out there and watch her roll.

Shannon said...

Cliff, I think your Snoqualmie one was from a few years ago. There are some of Snoqualmie Falls posted today, eg this one in HD:

I loved the Granite Falls one. Stunning. I lived near a river that used to have huge, bridge downing floods and it takes me back. I wouldn't go too close, myself.

mg said...

That video at Granite Falls is incredible -- and it goes all the way up to 1080 lines of resolution.

Wx Enthusiast said...

Better than storm chasing? I've seen thunderstorms in the Great Plains and I'd have to disagree on that one.

JewelyaZ said...

Cliff, did you guys call this huge storm we're having right now? I heard it was supposed to rain tonight... but... in East Bellevue I just clocked a 44 mph gust and huge rain right now... this is the worst I can remember it this winter so far... we have also dropped 7 degrees in the last 10 minutes... power is flickering

garyLambda said...

Hi Cliff,
I know this comment isn't weather related, but I thought you'd like to read a local success story about using Singapore Math.

christian_martin said...

Hey Cliff -- here is a video of Sourdough Creek at the North Cascades Learning Center in flood this past weekend: Looks a bit different than when you were up there last summer, eh?

Kenna Wickman said...

Tornado strike down in Oregon: