Unhelpful Philpott

[22midge]

most of the stocked fish in the upper river are eaten long before they need to eat.........

[Onslow]

The Smith will be fine.  Who gives two shits about them pop eyed prairie perch anyhow.  The Roaring, Reddies, Little watersheds saw 20 inches of rain per month for three consecutive months during the Summer of 2013 near the Blue Ridge, and the trout are all right.  That all being said, has anyone looked at the SF New, upper Yadkin, upper Smith flows lately?!  3-4 cfs per sq mi is a righteous amount of juice even for late Winter and Spring flows.  This Winter may give us all the gift of unmanageable flows.

[Woolly Bugger]

Update on the recording: Philpott will be generating 24/7 through Friday 11-27..... I guess we will have to wait and see what happens afterwards

[driver]

Isnt that what it said last week?

[Woolly Bugger]

Not exactly

[Al]

Some of you may be on the distribution list for these same alerts. For the those who do not here is cut and paste of what to expect the following week.  Basically no fishing unless you are floating in a raft or canoe.

Philpott:   Declaration calls for 24/7 generation at Philpott with one unit (unit #1).
If unit #2 becomes available and the storage in the lake allows for it, we will revise the declaration to include two-unit capacity. For now, however, the capacity is only 7.5MW.

[Woolly Bugger]

So there is hope that things will return to normal soon?

[Dougfish]

Annnnnd, here comes another 1"+ of rain.......

[Woolly Bugger]

New announcement 24/7 generation through Friday 12-4

[Onslow]

Some insight as to why the river is so juiced.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/uv?cb_00062=on&cb_00045=on&format=gif_default&site_no=02071900&period=&begin_date=2015-09-15&end_date=2015-11-27

20 inches in two months

I would suspect rainfall totals at the Blue ridge were  50-80 % higher than those at the lake.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/monthly?referred_module=sw&site_no=02072000&por_02072000_1=190052,00060,1,1946-10,2015-09&start_dt=2008-01&end_dt=2014-12&format=html_table&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD&rdb_compression=file&submitted_form=parameter_selection_list

The drainage size at Philpott  site is 206 sq. miles.  Average rate of flow is .76 cfs per sq mile for the month of November

A geographically comparable free flowing watershed numbers

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/monthly?referred_module=sw&site_no=02072000&por_02072000_1=190052,00060,1,1946-10,2015-09&start_dt=2008-01&end_dt=2014-12&format=html_table&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD&rdb_compression=file&submitted_form=parameter_selection_list

1.15 cfs per sq. mile average for the month of November. 

So it has been established that the that the average rate of flow should be ~ 1 cfs per sq. mile for this time of year if the lake did not exist.

Check out this hydrograph of the upper reaches of the Smith.  Looks like it is running about 400% of average in the last month.  Even if the dam were functioning properly, I don't think it would improve the current situation.  Just too much damned water.  2 inches in the forecast this week.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&format=gif_default&site_no=02071530&period=&begin_date=2015-10-27&end_date=2015-11-27

[creakycane]

Exactly.  And I estimate that every inch of rain that falls now (with tree bare and land pretty saturated) will raise the reservoir over 1 foot, which takes about a week with 1 gen to bring down.  If we get 2 - 3 inches this week, it might be close to Christmas before things return to normal.

[Woolly Bugger]

Let's hope they get the second unit online soon!

[rford]

The long range forecast caused by the el nino makes the situation look bleak for fishing for a time this winter.  I recall a privious el nino because of the problems it caused for my construction company.  There was heavy rainfall at least once a week for an extended period. 

[Dougfish]

It's official:
"0.73 inch of rain on Sunday and Monday lifted Roanoke to 18.58 inches of rain for Autumn 2015 (Sept. 1-Nov. 30 on the meteorological calendar) making it the WETTEST FALL ON RECORD dating to start of records in 1912."

And I think it has rained even more in Patrick and Henry Counties.

BTW, it's still raining.....

[Woolly Bugger]

Forget global warming, global wetting is hitting the old dominion