Oh, and further to Collin's point about the flood risk from channelizing the river: the Sacramento River is expected to overtop the Fremont weir starting tomorrow for the first time since 2019, which was before I moved to town. This causes the river to flow into the Yolo bypass rather than flooding the city. Interstate 80 crosses the bypass on a causeway and I've heard descriptions of the 2017 flow through there that sound apocalyptic. Nothing in the forecast indicates that we will see even a third of that flow, but it is going to get wetter and wetter over the next few weeks, so who knows?
Bike content: a week ago I rode out into the bypass on some gravel roads - it was so refreshing to find a local ride that doesn't involve cars! Looks like that'll be impossible for a little while. -Wes On Friday, January 6, 2023 at 6:43:38 PM UTC-8 Wesley wrote: > Its true about the consternation from the public! I was out a few nights > ago to see what conditions looked like on the American River, and at an > intersection some car pulled up next to me, pointed a camera at me and > started in with a bunch of questions about why I was out riding in the > rain. It's a bike thing, you wouldn't understand. > -Wes > > On Friday, January 6, 2023 at 4:36:51 PM UTC-8 Collin A wrote: > >> Brunchers, >> >> Happy "Storm" Season from Sacramento, currently sitting at a lovely 30 ft >> (average, NAVD88) with the nearby American River potentially cresting at 40 >> ft if the current forecasts hold. This post may be a bit off-topic, but it >> is riv/bike related because I have been doing some inspection rounds of the >> levees on my Appaloosa, much to the confusion of my coworkers and the >> public I see out there! >> >> Some Background: >> Like most of the rivers in California, the American River (and Sacramento >> that the American feeds) is not a "natural" river and instead dammed at >> several locations along it's length and constrained for hundreds of miles >> by levees of varying levels of 'integrity.' The levees tend to contribute >> to flood risk, somewhat counterintuitively, because they constrain and >> limit how wide a river can go, thereby making the river run narrower, >> taller, and faster and causing more flooding if (or rather when) a levee >> breaks. The dams, specifically the Folsom Dam, serve to capture the more >> erratic rainfall and stream flows and later release them over a longer >> period to avoid damaging the levees and flooding the cities downstream. >> >> Currently, Folsom is releasing about 190,000 gallons a second (or about 1 >> olympic swimming pool every 3 seconds) in anticipation of the next several >> storms to make sure there is enough space to capture all of that water >> (before they have to release that volume gradually to then make space for >> another big storm). They will likely continue to release more water as the >> storms continue, and they are currently scheduled to release 40% more >> starting tomorrow. For a point of reference, the levees are designed to >> handle at least 4 times that amount, and the dam is designed for another 5 >> times more! >> >> Bike Stuff: >> I managed to get a ride out before this most recent storm and got a few >> photos of condition of the river paths and river itself. I'll be doing a >> similar lap early next week when the river rises another 10 feet or so and >> will likely try to make it a weekly occurrence as long as the storms keep >> up and I don't get called to an emergency response. >> [image: PXL_20230103_183538984.jpg] >> One of the boat ramps underneath Howe Ave, currently under water. >> >> [image: PXL_20230103_183305652.jpg] >> Looking downstream from Watt Ave bridge >> >> Resources for those in the area related to forecasting: >> River forecasts: CNRFC - California Nevada River Forecast Center >> (noaa.gov) <https://cnrfc.noaa.gov/> >> Reservoir Release Schedules: CDEC - LastRes (ca.gov) >> <https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/lastRes> >> >> Stay safe out there, >> Collin in Floodramento >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9305e245-6b37-468a-8e51-80ce26f89caan%40googlegroups.com.
