Anyone know whats up with the SFA flows?

[Sheepdog8404]

I have been checking the flows for the South Fork American River almost daily since December... It seems as though SMUD has gotten a bug up their ass to continually fluctuate the releases from Chili Bar with absolutely no consistency... Anybody know why?!?! Take a look at the flow chart on the link below! That is a very accurate representation of what the entire year has been like on the South Fork below Chili Bar...

http://www.theamericanriver.com/trip-planning/south-fork-news-flows/

[TaylerW]

The SF has constant flux. Some in part for white water rafting.

[Spicytuna1]

I had my trailer there this last weekend. Water was ripping!! Saw a tone of whitewater boats. Saw one person get bucked out and had 2 other boats high side on some rocks. Fun to watch from shore.

[Morgan]

Its a fun river and you need some skills to navigate it.
A buddy of mine rows a lot. And we have floated it 3 times.
3rd times a charm. FLipped in trouble maker.
2 broken rods, busted iphone and bruised up. Luckily that was it.
An intense river and definitely not for the new guys on the sticks by no means.

[Sheepdog8404]

Thanks Gangster. I'm primarily looking to wade fish it. Don't want to be mid river and then a 2000cube increase comes rushing down the canyon.

[JasonB]

The flows on the SFA pretty much always fluctuate around a LOT this time of year. Nothing to do with rafting flows, but they do very roughly follow general snowmelt this time of year. In other words rain, or warm weather will cause *generally* higher flows, where a dry cold snap will cause flows to drop. I've not quite figured out why they vary the flow so radically this time of year, but it is most likely a combination of many, many factors between both SMUD and PG&E. In talking with Bill Center (who knows more about the stream flows there than everyone else I know combined!) one day, he said that the more that he has learned about the ins and outs of the flows on that river the more complicated things get. I'll spare the lengthy discussion, but there is a lot that goes into water flows in that section.

Stay tuned, as I would not be surprised to see things start to dip a bit lower in the coming week or so if things don't heat up any further. I wouldn't recommend wading too far from shore at all this time of year though, save that for when the whitewater releases provide a much more reliable Yo-Yo effect. After snowmelt is over the flows get a lot more consistent and predictable, though even then there are still some surprise flows (typically those are later in the afternoon, evening, night... though not always).
The silver lining is that this is what *should* be happening this time of year, short term is kind of a bummer, but long term this is a good thing... now if we could just get a couple more big storms and see this river break the 20-40K range for a couple days to clean things up a bit. Not probably, but still quite possible.
JB

[Morgan]

Im with ya there. If Mother Nature could so graciously kick down a few more nice storms for our summer reserves that would be awesome. With the warm weather towards the end of this week the snow is gonna melt quick! Yet, it is so nice to see an average winter around here again.

[TaylerW]

Cronin ranch provides wonderful access