Posted January 3, 200619 yr The river hit 31 feet in Cincinnati on May 23rd, 2005, then didn't top 30 feet again until the beginning of December...now with the recent rains, it's predicted to hit 38.2 feet by Friday. It's nowhere near flood stage (for newcomers, here's a thread with shots from the 2005 flood - that was almost 57 feet) - but if you're used to green water and pool stage levels, it'll be a nice change for your river views! Anyway, thought I'd make a thread for river-level things like this, as well as a place to put river-related links. Here's a set that I check all the time - first some river forecast tools: 3-day text: http://www.riverwatch.noaa.gov/forecasts/ILNRVDILN.shtml 5-day graphic: http://newweb.erh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=iln&gage=ccno1&view=1,1,1,1,1,1 3-month Probability Graphs: http://newweb.erh.noaa.gov/ahps2/weekly.php?wfo=iln&gage=ccno1&view=1,1,1,1,1,1 http://newweb.erh.noaa.gov/ahps2/period.php?wfo=iln&gage=ccno1&view=1,1,1,1,1,1 Here's real-time and recent daily data - goes back 31 days with hourly data, and two years with daily data: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/oh/nwis/dv/?site_no=03255000&PARAmeter_cd=00060,00065 Here's river level highlights going back as far as we have records: http://www.kenton.lib.ky.us/gen/ohioriver.html Anyone else have any cool river gage stuff? I'd love to find something that gave the surface speed, but haven't seen anything like that yet...
January 4, 200619 yr I have a collections of newspaper clippings, some technical Army Corps of Engineers stuff, the Navigation Charts, some photos of previous high water, and such. I have also been known to go on canoe trips during high water - not on the main river, but on some of the backwater tributaries, such as the Mill Creek. The view of the Western Hills Viaduct from the Mill Creek at high water is awesome! 38 feet should get you from the Ohio River all the way to Northside on the Mill Creek backwater. If anyone is up for a canoe trip, please let me know.
January 4, 200619 yr Ooo...that sounds quite cool. I'm not a very experienced canoeist (though I loved Paddlefest!), but that sounds very interesting. Any of your clippings/tech stuff/charts scanned and postable? I really dig reading that kind of stuff...
January 5, 200619 yr I don't consider myself experienced either, other than I've done it a few times and own a canoe and a kayak. If you can do paddlefest, you can paddle backwaters. I've taken beginners before. The hardest part is finding a parking space and dragging the canoe up and down the bank. None of my stuff is scanned. I think the navigation charts can be found online. I have the modern version as well as an older one, prior to the big dams, when fernbank dam was still in use. One of the technical things I have had to do with a proposal to build a floodwall around Covington but includes all kinds of other engineering data. Most of the newspaper clippings have to do with either floods, bridges, or tows. The Enquirer had a special section for the 50th anniversary of the 1937 flood and I have that. If anyone is interested, my canoe would like to get in the water!
January 5, 200619 yr Reminds me of an incident several years ago that was, in a way, kind of humorous to observe and recall but probably somewhat harrowing for the participants. During a winter flood, my nephew and his buddy, then about 18 and both pretty accomplished outdoorsmen and canoeists, decided to see if they could travel Sixmile Creek from my parents' farm to the Wabash River. The distance is about five miles, and normally the creek is too shallow and has too much debris to travel very far in canoe. Sixmile Creek is a tributary to the Wabash, but during high water it's definitely not a backwater. The current moves pretty fast. About halfway, they hit a submerged fence and got dumped. They both made it ashore safely with only a few abrasions and bruises, and even managed to recover the canoe. They soon realized they were in serious trouble, though, because they were completely soaked in the cold water, and the air temp was about 20 degrees F with a good breeze. They were near a road, but about a mile from the nearest house. Luckily I was driving from town to the farm via that road, an alternate route but not my usual one, when I saw two kids in the road ahead, jumping up and down and waving their arms -- Matthew and Philip, the two wilderness adventurers. I picked them up and cranked up the heater full blast and headed for the house. They were at the edge of hypothermia, shaking so hard they could hardly tell me what had happened. Back at the house, they thawed out with a hot showers and got into dry clothes, and then we took the truck back to the scene and retrieved the canoe. I think they gained new respect for fast-moving water that day.
January 5, 200619 yr ...and you mock them to this day, I hope! Man, I can only imagine how cold that had to have been...
January 5, 200619 yr It's not hard to tip a canoe in fast-moving water. It usually happens when the boat catches onto a fallen tree or something fixed, and the boat turns sideways against the current.
January 6, 200619 yr ...and you mock them to this day, I hope! Man, I can only imagine how cold that had to have been... I've lost track of Philip. I think he graduated college and went off to medical school. Matthew has settled down quite a bit, working as a diesel mechanic and driving trucks and providing for a family, with a little boy who is just as impulsive and accident-prone as he was. The kid keeps him on his toes.
January 17, 200619 yr The recent rains are predicted to push the river to its highest gage since last April: http://www.riverwatch.noaa.gov/forecasts/ILNRVDILN.shtml CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 31.1/: 1.1: 35.6 / 38.0 / 40.6 / 43.0 SAT PM Something new - this report gives station, flood stage (52), 7am stage (31.1), change since yesterday's 7am stage (1.1), then three days of predictions - 7am tomorrow (35.6), 7am Thursday (38.0) and 7am Friday (40.6) - but this is the first time I've noticed the addition to the end: "43.0 SAT PM". That's the currently predicted Crest, and the predicted day and time of the crest. I've noticed for a while now that the 3-days out predictions seem to overstate things most every time, so we'll see how this one stacks up - but again, a nice full basin with brown water and swift-moving flotsam and jetsam awaits us Saturday!
January 17, 200619 yr My machine goes out daily to the 3-day text website and emails the page to me, and I log all the text in a table - well, I queried the table, and this is the first time they've included this CREST prediction data in the 19 months I've been collecting this data. Whenever there's a serious flood, they'll include commentary in the text (which they've done 58 days out of the last 540), and they discuss predicted crests in that text. But it's cool to have this one-line prediction thing included here...thank you, National Weather Service!
January 17, 200619 yr Backwater canoeing, anyone? On the Mill Creek, 43 feet should get us to .... Northside!
January 17, 200619 yr But it's cool to have this one-line prediction thing included here...thank you, National Weather Service! Heh, this is a product I am in charge of updating. You're welcome ;)
January 17, 200619 yr Really? Wow, that rocks! Given your avatar, I assume you're not in the Wilmington office! So what does updating this product involve? Is it more of a data processing thing, or a meteorological thing, or something else? Are there any other products regarding river levels that I didn't link to above? Wow, I could ask you eight thousand questions...
January 17, 200619 yr how high's the water mama? three feet high and risin.... the man in black could do the soundtrack for this thread! so anybody ever go canoing at mohican? i remember when we did it in high school. it was fun.
January 17, 200619 yr Given your avatar, I assume you're not in the Wilmington office! His avatar is an inside joke. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
January 18, 200619 yr Really? Wow, that rocks! Given your avatar, I assume you're not in the Wilmington office! So what does updating this product involve? Is it more of a data processing thing, or a meteorological thing, or something else? Are there any other products regarding river levels that I didn't link to above? Wow, I could ask you eight thousand questions... Actually yeah I am at ILN. My work is to gather river state data and issue the RVD that you linked to above, as well as the RVA (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/afos/CLERVAILN). Our forecasts come from the Ohio River Forecast Center which is across the hall from us. They do the long term forecasting, we concentrate on short term flooding, which I haven't had to deal with yet (started here in Oct).
January 18, 200619 yr Wow...very cool. I'd ask if they were hiring, but a) I have no skills, only interest, and b) I wouldn't want to move away from the river! I always saw that statement at the end of the forecasts: DURING PERIODS OF HIGH WATER OR FLOODING...CREST FORECASTS SHOULD BE OBTAINED FROM RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS (CLEFLWILN) OR RIVER FLOOD STATEMENTS (CLEFLSILN). - but I never knew where to find the CLEFLWILN - thanks for the link! Is that just updated more frequently than the ILNRVDILN is? Oh, and what on earth do those acronyms stand for?
January 18, 200619 yr Well we have a few guys that commute from Cincinnati, Columbus and even Indiana, so you may not have to leave :). Do you have a degree in hydology or meteorology? When there is a river flood warning, you will see Hamilton County lit up bright green on our main page and that product will be obtainable just by clicking on Cincinnati. The FLW will be updated much more often, and for more forecast points when there is flooding. Also, the RVD becomes more detailed in those situations as well. As for the acronyms...those drive me crazy. My first few weeks training there, they are telling me all about how I will be in charge of the RVA and RVD and AFD and SCA and NWA and I'm like woah slow down there. Basically, every one of our products begins with CLE from the old days when Cleveland was the main office in the state (that is no more), every product will end in ILN for Wilmington, and then RVD stands for River Data (I believe), FLW for FLood Warning, and so on. Cool to have a hydo enthusiast on here :)
January 18, 200619 yr Well we have a few guys that commute from Cincinnati, Columbus and even Indiana, so you may not have to leave :). Do you have a degree in hydology or meteorology? Unfortunately, that falls under my first caveat, "I have no skills, only interest." My philosophy degree probably wouldn't help me much...I'm a pretty good Foxpro programmer (which, by the way, reminds me of a great line from A Prairie Home Companion - the Lutheran minister was visiting a friend's cousin or something who was a priest at the Vatican, whose job was to translate the classics into Latin. He said that was like making beautiful bronze statues and dropping them into the ocean for the amazement of deep sea divers...) - but that probably doesn't count for much...I could do filing and answer the phones!
January 19, 200619 yr I know this is pretty much off-topic, but have you guys seen those Weather Channel weather station things they have on sale at places like Best Buy for $200 or so? It's like a self-contained wireless weather station that you can hook up to your computer. Man, I'd love that: http://store.weather.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=000000000000109224&CatalogID=0010
January 19, 200619 yr That is very cool. Most of the remote weather station things I've seen have only been accurate to within 2 degrees - but this one seems to be a bit more precise! I've also looked at thissuppository-looking USB remote deal: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00074UZ4A/qid=1137678565/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6406671-2076705?n=507846&s=hi&v=glance That one's cool, because you can put it anywhere, and it just sits there and logs temperature, taking readings every 10 seconds to 12 hours, and storing 60K data points. Then you plug it in to your machine and grab the data. That would be cool to put in the trunk one day, in the glove box the next day, under the visor the next day, and see how hot different parts of the car got, and when...or how cold the garage gets...compare hourly temperature readings with your nearest NWS station (since I'm about 200 feet above Lunken and three miles away, I'm sure there are some predictable variances)...
January 19, 200619 yr So the river forecast has been revised down: CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 34.1/: 0.5: 36.6 / 40.1 / 40.7 / 40.8 SUN AM KCN, do you have any insight into why this appears to happen every time they're looking at a big jump? They predicted 38.2 earlier this month, but it never got above 34.8...I'm sure it's difficult to predict, but if that were the only issue, I'd expect them to miss both high and low... I'll dig through my archived data and see how often their third-day-during-a-peak data is over and how often it's under, but just from memory, it seems like they're consistenly a few feet high...
January 19, 200619 yr Ran a couple queries...I looked at instances where the three days of predictions showed a 3 foot jump in at least one of the days...in reverse chronological order: Date / Day 3 prediction / Actual / Overage 01/03/2006 / 38.2 / 34.8 / 3.4 12/02/2005 / 32.5 / 31.2 / 1.3 12/01/2005 / 36.9 / 33.6 / 3.3 11/30/2005 / 35.8 / 35.1 / 0.7 08/29/2005 / 34.3 / 27.9 / 6.4 04/24/2005 / 35.1 / 34.1 / 1 04/23/2005 / 35.9 / 34.1 / 1.8 04/22/2005 / 37.9 / 32.4 / 5.5 03/30/2005 / 47.3 / 45.9 / 1.4 03/29/2005 / 47.3 / 46.1 / 1.2 03/09/2005 / 39.7 / 38.7 / 1 03/08/2005 / 42.2 / 39.5 / 2.7 03/07/2005 / 39.2 / 37.3 / 1.9 01/12/2005 / 48.3 / 53.5 / (-5.2) 01/07/2005 / 56.0 / 54.6 / 1.4 01/06/2005 / 50.7 / 52.3 / (-1.6) 01/05/2005 / 47.8 / 51.5 / (-3.7) 01/04/2005 / 41.3 / 48.6 / (-7.3) 01/03/2005 / 38.2 / 40.5 / (-2.3) 01/02/2005 / 35.4 / 37.4 / (-2) 12/22/2004 / 34.8 / 31.0 / 3.8 12/11/2004 / 41.9 / 39.7 / 2.2 12/09/2004 / 39.7 / 38.5 / 1.2 12/02/2004 / 42.1 / 39.8 / 2.3 09/19/2004 / 51.9 / 50.8 / 1.1 09/18/2004 / 51.9 / 50.8 / 1.1 09/17/2004 / 52.0 / 48.3 / 3.7 09/10/2004 / 44.8 / 43.3 / 1.5 09/09/2004 / 40.9 / 43.6 / (-2.7) 09/08/2004 / 40.9 / 41.8 / (-0.9) From this, it seems like the only time they underestimated was during the January 2005 flood - however, their 3 day estimates are a lot more accurate during these jumpin' times than I'd have guessed...excluding the flood, there have been 23 days that qualified for my pool (at least one of the three days had a 3 foot jump predicted) - of those, they were within two feet 13 times, and within three feet 4 times...then four times were within 4 feet, and the other two were off by 5.5 and 6.4. It's still interesting to me, though, that of the (non-flood) predictions, the error is almost always on estimating too high - they only underestimated twice.
January 23, 200619 yr Today's report includes this commentary: WIDESPREAD RAINFALL BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES FELL ACROSS SOUTHERN OHIO AND NORTHERN KENTUCKY OVERNIGHT. THIS RAIN HAS RESULTED IN A SIGNIFICANT RISE OF OHIO BRUSH CREEK. THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO CREST JUST UNDER THE FLOOD STAGE OF 15 FEET EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. Meanwhile, the Ohio at Cincinnati is supposed to top 44 feet: CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 35.7/: -1.8: 42.5 / 44.2 / 43.7 / 44.2 WED AM
January 29, 200619 yr I was down there Friday. It was pretty brown, murky, and high. I think I may have a pic somewhere.
January 31, 200619 yr Today's report includes this commentary: WIDESPREAD RAINFALL BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES FELL ACROSS SOUTHERN OHIO AND NORTHERN KENTUCKY OVERNIGHT. THIS RAIN HAS RESULTED IN A SIGNIFICANT RISE OF OHIO BRUSH CREEK. THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO CREST JUST UNDER THE FLOOD STAGE OF 15 FEET EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. Meanwhile, the Ohio at Cincinnati is supposed to top 44 feet: CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 35.7/: -1.8: 42.5 / 44.2 / 43.7 / 44.2 WED AM Guess who wrote that ;) Thankfully it crested a few feet below flood stage.
February 1, 200619 yr Hey, it's great to read your work! Do you have any insight on the questions I posted above regarding the crest predictions riding high generally?
February 1, 200619 yr Sorry didn't catch that question above - I'm not sure the reason behind the bias, since I am not involved with river forecasting just data aquisition. Hopefully the OHRFC is aware of it. :)
February 13, 200619 yr Say, KCN, if you see this, I've been having trouble with http://www.riverwatch.noaa.gov/forecasts/ILNRVDILN.shtml - it throws a server error, and has done so every day since Saturday...in fact, http://www.RiverWatch.NOAA.gov is down entirely...I assume folks are aware and scrambling to get things back up, but didn't know if you'd heard what was up?
April 18, 200619 yr Here's some recent prose from KCN, I'm assuming - from Sunday: HEAVY RAINFALL IS FORECAST OVERNIGHT...WITH RAINFALL AMOUNTS BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES POSSIBLE ALONG THE OHIO RIVER. THIS FORECAST RAINFALL IS ON TOP OF WIDESPREAD ONE TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN THAT HAS FALLEN OVER THE PAST 48 HOURS. AS A RESULT...RISES TO NEAR FLOOD STATE ARE FORECAST FOR THE WHITEWATER RIVER AT ALPINE...AND OHIO BRUSH CREEK AT WEST UNION. THESE FORECASTS ARE BASED ON PROJECTED RAINFALL AMOUNTS...AND MAY CHANGE IF PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS ARE DIFFERENT THAN FORECAST. ...then Monday: WIDESPREAD RAINS OF ONE HALF TO ONE INCH FELL OVERNIGHT. WHILE THIS EXTRA RAINFALL RESULTED IN RISES OF SEVERAL RIVERS...THE OBSERVED RAINFALL WAS LESS THAN FORECAST. AS A RESULT...FLOODING IS NO LONGER ANTICIPATED FOR OHIO BRUSH CREEK AT WEST UNION. ...eagerly awaiting any commentary that may accompany the daily report today! Actually, it should be out in the next half hour or so...
December 13, 200618 yr A river link I didn't post before - the Enquirer's special section on the Flood of 1997: http://www.enquirer.com/flood_of_97/ ...the pictures had all been down a couple weeks back, but I emailed them and got a response this morning - there had been some sort of issue they corrected, but the photos got disconnected. It's now all fixed - yay!
December 13, 200618 yr riverviewer or anyone i have a question. beside the seasons and the periodic floods, is the level of the ohio river generally rising? that is, is it at a gernally higher level now than in the past?
December 13, 200618 yr I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm not sure if it's something that really could be answered, for a few reasons. The "pool stage" of the river has changed over time. Before canalization, low water was however low it dropped in the summer - it didn't pool. Regular records only go back as far as 1858, since which time the lowest recorded level was 1.9 feet (see http://www.kenton.lib.ky.us/gen/ohioriver.html). Then in 1929, they finished canalizing the river, and pool stage was somewhere north of 7'. And then in 1963, Markland opened up, and pool stage was raised to 25.4'. So yes, the river has "risen" over time - but not at all in the way you mean! Perhaps the way to answer your question is to answer a different question - how much time does the river spend at pool stage in a given year? If it spent, say, 60% of its time at pool stage in the 1960's, but only 30% of its time at pool stage today, then that might indicate more water is reaching the river. However, even that wouldn't necessarily answer your question - there are other complicating factors. For instance, there are dams in tributaries all up and down the Ohio - not just big ones like the Kinzua Dam, but these lakes, like East Fork and Caesar Creek and Cave Run...as different dams have come online, the Corps has gained more and more control over the river. So there could be exactly the same amount of water in the system today as in the past, but more of it may be held upstream for optimal hydroelectric generation today than in the past - that would lead to fewer days at pool stage, without meaning any real change in water levels. You know what? They do measure water through-put...I've never dug into those figures before, because I don't understand the measures, and the data has never really interested me. But if you were really interested, you could poke around the links I posted at the top of this thread - that might yield some information... Of course, reading back over this now, I'm wondering if your question isn't more whether sedimentation is raising the river relative to Cincinnati...is that more what you're getting at?
January 15, 200718 yr Nothing is certain at this point, except that the Ohio is pretty high and getting higher...Saturday's Daily River and Lake Summary report predicted the Ohio would crest in Cincinnati at 54.3' Thursday morning, then yesterday's predicted a crest at 50.4' Friday morning...always cool to see the river rising, as long as it stays in its banks... I'll update this when the report is updated this afternoon...and for those who are interested, here's the report information from Saturday and Sunday: Saturday DAILY RIVER AND LAKE SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 1202 PM EST SAT JAN 13 2007 RAINFALL OF ONE HALF INCH TO ONE AND A HALF INCHES HAS OCCURRED ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA SINCE FRIDAY. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF TWO TO THREE INCHES IS EXPECTED BY MONDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE MINOR TO MODERATE FLOODING ON MANY OF THE AREA RIVERS THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. MODERATE FLOODING IS EXPECTED ON THE SCIOTO AND GREAT MIAMI IN OHIO AND THE LICKING RIVER IN KENTUCKY. MINOR FLOODING MAY OCCUR ON THE LITTLE MIAMI RIVER...THE LICKING RIVER IN OHIO...THE HOCKING RIVER...DARBY...PAINT AND BRUSH CREEK IN OHIO. MINOR FLOODING IS ALSO EXPECTED ON THE OHIO RIVER. B ILN 0113 DC011311 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : STATION FLD 7AM 24-HR 7AM CREST :ID NAME STG STG CHANGE FORECASTS DAY AND : SUN MON TUE TIME : : OHIO RIVER PORO1:PORTSMOUTH 50: 30.1/: -3.8: 31.4 / 41.0 / 47.9 / 51.9 WED PM MYSK2:MAYSVILLE 50: 37.8/: -1.9: 37.7 / 44.0 / 48.1 / 53.1 THU AM CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 37.3/: -3.2: 41.7 / 50.4 / 51.7 / 54.3 THU AM : B ILN 0113 DC011311 DH12/HT/DRH+24/HTIFF/DRH+48/HTIFF/DRH+72/HTIFF : MELO1:MELDAHL DAM 51: 31.8/: -3.9: 33.9 / 43.4 / 46.0 / 52.2 THU PM MKLK2:MARKLAND DAM 51: 33.0/: -3.1: 37.2 / 45.5 / 50.1 / 50.2 TUE AM : B ILN 0113 DC011311 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : : LICKING RIVER(KY) MKBK2:MCKINNEYSBUR 33: 10.6/: -0.6: 18.7 / 33.3 / 35.4 / 38.1 MON PM FLMK2:FALMOUTH 28: M/: M: 11.5 / 27.8 / 34.6 / 35.7 TUE AM : : LITTLE MIAMI RIVER KIMO1:KINGS MILLS 17: M/: M: 14.8 / 17.7 / 9.2 / 17.7 MON AM MLGO1:MILFORD 17: 6.5/: 0.4: 15.6 / 18.5 / 12.3 / 18.5 MON AM : : GREAT MIAMI RIVER SIDO1:SIDNEY 10: 5.7/: 1.9: 8.2 / 10.1 / 11.0 / 11.3 MON PM DTNO1:DAYTON 41: 27.6/: 0.7: 29.9 / 31.0 / 31.7 / 31.7 TUE AM MBGO1:MIAMISBURG 17: 11.2/: 2.1: 14.1 / 16.4 / 16.6 / 16.8 MON PM HAMO1:HAMILTON 75: 67.1/: 2.4: 70.8 / 73.4 / 71.8 / 73.6 MON PM MIAO1:MIAMITOWN 16: M/: M: 19.1 / 23.6 / 22.9 / 25.0 MON PM : : WHITEWATER RIVER BRKI3:BROOKVILLE 20: 8.8/: 2.5: 12.4 / 12.3 / 11.6 / 13.1 MON PM ALPI3:ALPINE 17: M/: M: 14.7 / 14.3 / 14.3 / 15.6 MON PM : : OLENTANGY RIVER WRTO1:WORTHINGTON 13: 3.5/: 1.0: 4.0 / 7.7 / 4.0 / 7.7 MON AM : : DARBY CREEK DBVO1:DARBYVILLE 10: 4.3/: 0.5: 8.4 / 9.7 / 10.6 / 10.6 TUE AM : : PAINT CREEK BVLO1:BOURNEVILLE 12: 5.2/: 1.0: 6.7 / 11.7 / 8.8 / 12.7 MON PM : : SCIOTO RIVER COLO1:COLUMBUS FRA 24: 9.9/: 1.0: 11.7 / 17.6 / 15.7 / 17.6 MON AM CIRO1:CIRCLEVILLE 14: 5.2/: -1.2: 14.3 / 15.6 / 18.6 / 19.3 TUE AM CHCO1:CHILLICOTHE 16: 5.2/: -1.0: 7.8 / 11.7 / 16.7 / 16.9 TUE PM PKTO1:PIKETON 18: 7.5/: -1.7: 9.7 / 20.5 / 26.1 / 26.7 TUE PM : : LICKING RIVER OHIO NEAO1:NEWARK 14: 6.4/: 2.4: 10.6 / 10.1 / 10.3 / 12.7 MON PM :HOCKING RIVER ENTO1:ENTERPRISE 12: 4.7/: 1.7: 12.0 / 16.5 / 14.4 / 16.7 MON PM : :OHIO BRUSH CREEK WUNO1:WEST UNION 15: 3.0/: -0.0: 15.7 / 21.1 / 6.8 / 21.1 MON AM END Sunday DAILY RIVER AND LAKE SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 1211 PM EST SUN JAN 14 2007 RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION. RAINFALL AMOUNTS SINCE FRIDAY HAVE BEEN FROM AROUND A HALF AN INCH TO NEAR TWO INCHES. ADDITONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF AROUND A HALF AN INCH TODAY AND ONE HALF TO ONE INCH TONIGHT AND MONDAY WILL CAUSES SIGNIFICANT RISES ON AREA STREAMS AND RIVERS. MODERATE FLOODING IS EXPECTED ON THE SCIOTO RIVER AT CIRCLEVILLE AND PIKETON BY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. MINOR FLOODING IS EXPECTED ON THE DARBY AND BRUSH CREEK...LITTLE MIAMI AND GREAT MIAMI...LICKING RIVER IN OHIO...SCIOTO RIVER AT CHILLICOTHE AND WHITEWATER RIVER AT ALPINE IN INDIANA. THE OHIO RIVER WILL APPROACH FLOOD STAGE FROM PORTSMOUTH TO CINCINNATI AND MARKLAND DAM BY THE END OF THE WEEK. B ILN 0114 DC011411 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : STATION FLD 7AM 24-HR 7AM CREST :ID NAME STG STG CHANGE FORECASTS DAY AND : MON TUE WED TIME : : OHIO RIVER PORO1:PORTSMOUTH 50: 29.7/: -0.4: 35.9 / 40.6 / 44.7 / 47.2 THU PM MYSK2:MAYSVILLE 50: 36.5/: -1.3: 37.8 / 41.0 / 44.9 / 48.4 FRI AM CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 37.6/: 0.3: 42.6 / 46.5 / 47.8 / 50.4 FRI AM : B ILN 0114 DC011411 DH12/HT/DRH+24/HTIFF/DRH+48/HTIFF/DRH+72/HTIFF : MELO1:MELDAHL DAM 51: 31.0/: -0.8: 36.0 / 40.0 / 43.8 / 48.0 FRI AM MKLK2:MARKLAND DAM 51: 34.0/: 1.0: 36.8 / 44.2 / 44.1 / 44.8 FRI AM : B ILN 0114 DC011411 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : : LICKING RIVER(KY) MKBK2:MCKINNEYSBUR 33: 13.1/: 2.4: 18.2 / 23.2 / 19.3 / 25.4 MON PM FLMK2:FALMOUTH 28: M/: M: 15.1 / 21.2 / 16.1 / 22.6 MON PM : : LITTLE MIAMI RIVER KIMO1:KINGS MILLS 17: M/: M: 17.2 / 9.6 / 7.4 / 17.2 MON AM MLGO1:MILFORD 17: 9.6/: 3.1: 16.4 / 12.8 / 9.0 / 19.2 MON PM : : GREAT MIAMI RIVER SIDO1:SIDNEY 10: 7.4/: 1.7: 12.6 / 10.5 / 7.2 / 12.9 MON PM DTNO1:DAYTON 41: 29.7/: 2.1: 30.3 / 32.2 / 31.2 / 32.2 TUE AM MBGO1:MIAMISBURG 17: 13.5/: 2.3: 15.9 / 17.5 / 16.1 / 17.6 TUE PM HAMO1:HAMILTON 75: 68.5/: 1.4: 71.9 / 72.0 / 70.7 / 72.4 MON PM MIAO1:MIAMITOWN 16: 12.9/: M: 20.0 / 22.6 / 20.3 / 22.9 MON PM : : WHITEWATER RIVER BRKI3:BROOKVILLE 20: 7.9/: -0.9: 13.3 / 9.0 / 5.8 / 14.3 MON PM ALPI3:ALPINE 17: M/: -0.7: 17.3 / 13.3 / 11.2 / 17.3 MON AM : : OLENTANGY RIVER WRTO1:WORTHINGTON 13: 5.0/: 1.5: 8.3 / 4.1 / 3.8 / 8.3 MON AM : : DARBY CREEK DBVO1:DARBYVILLE 10: 7.1/: 2.8: 8.9 / 10.6 / 9.1 / 10.6 TUE AM : : PAINT CREEK BVLO1:BOURNEVILLE 12: 5.6/: 0.4: 6.5 / 7.5 / 6.3 / 7.6 TUE AM : : SCIOTO RIVER COLO1:COLUMBUS FRA 24: 12.6/: 2.7: 17.7 / 16.8 / 15.0 / 18.6 MON PM CIRO1:CIRCLEVILLE 14: 13.0/: 7.9: 14.8 / 18.7 / 16.7 / 19.0 TUE AM CHCO1:CHILLICOTHE 16: 9.5/: 4.3: 10.6 / 14.7 / 14.5 / 16.2 TUE PM PKTO1:PIKETON 18: 13.3/: 5.8: 17.7 / 20.6 / 24.6 / 24.6 WED AM : : LICKING RIVER OHIO NEAO1:NEWARK 14: 8.8/: 2.4: 9.0 / 11.0 / 8.2 / 11.9 TUE AM :HOCKING RIVER ENTO1:ENTERPRISE 12: 10.7/: 6.0: 14.9 / 12.4 / 6.6 / 17.0 MON PM : :OHIO BRUSH CREEK WUNO1:WEST UNION 15: 6.7/: 3.6: 14.8 / 7.7 / 6.1 / 18.6 MON PM END
January 16, 200718 yr The latest peak prediction is 47.8 feet Friday evening: DAILY RIVER AND LAKE SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 1245 PM EST TUE JAN 16 2007 THE RAIN ENDED YESTERDAY...ALLOWING MOST RIVERS TO BEGIN TO LEVEL OFF OR START TO FALL. MOST CRESTS HAVE OCCURRED FOR UPSTREAM AREAS... MAINLY IN THE NORTHERN SCIOTO RIVER VALLEY AND ALONG THE GREAT AND LITTLE MIAMI. OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS THE RIVER LEVELS WILL DROP AS THE FLOW MOVES INTO THE OHIO RIVER. THIS WILL PUSH THE OHIO RIVER UP...BUT NOT TO FLOOD STAGES...AND CRESTING LATE IN THE WEEK. B ILN 0116 DC011612 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : STATION FLD 7AM 24-HR 7AM CREST :ID NAME STG STG CHANGE FORECASTS DAY AND : WED THU FRI TIME : : OHIO RIVER PORO1:PORTSMOUTH 50: 40.6/: 4.5: 42.6 / 43.6 / 43.9 / 44.1 THU PM MYSK2:MAYSVILLE 50: 39.2/: 2.3: 42.5 / 44.6 / 45.7 / 45.7 FRI AM CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 45.6/: 5.1: 46.4 / 47.2 / 47.7 / 47.8 FRI PM : B ILN 0116 DC011612 DH12/HT/DRH+24/HTIFF/DRH+48/HTIFF/DRH+72/HTIFF : MELO1:MELDAHL DAM 51: 40.9/: 5.9: 42.5 / 43.8 / 45.2 / 45.3 FRI PM MKLK2:MARKLAND DAM 51: 41.3/: 5.1: 41.6 / 42.1 / 42.4 / 42.5 FRI AM : B ILN 0116 DC011612 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : : LICKING RIVER(KY) MKBK2:MCKINNEYSBUR 33: 17.9/: 3.1: 19.3 / 16.1 / 13.8 / 22.3 TUE PM FLMK2:FALMOUTH 28: 11.0/: M: 12.3 / 12.0 / 9.7 / 12.3 WED AM : : LITTLE MIAMI RIVER MLGO1:MILFORD 17: 11.0/: -1.0: 9.1 / 7.7 / 7.0 / 10.5 TUE PM : : GREAT MIAMI RIVER SIDO1:SIDNEY 10: 10.4/: 0.5: 7.7 / 6.1 / 5.2 / 10.2 TUE PM DTNO1:DAYTON 41: 32.2/: 1.2: 31.4 / 29.9 / 28.9 / 32.2 TUE PM MBGO1:MIAMISBURG 17: 16.5/: 1.0: 16.4 / 14.1 / 12.4 / 17.0 TUE PM HAMO1:HAMILTON 75: 70.8/: 0.2: 70.0 / 68.9 / 67.4 / 70.7 TUE PM MIAO1:MIAMITOWN 16: 19.0/: M: 16.3 / 14.3 / 11.0 / 17.8 TUE PM : : WHITEWATER RIVER BRKI3:BROOKVILLE 20: 11.3/: 0.0: 7.1 / 5.6 / 5.3 / 10.7 TUE PM : : DARBY CREEK DBVO1:DARBYVILLE 10: 10.8/: 2.4: 9.9 / 8.0 / 6.4 / 10.8 TUE PM : : SCIOTO RIVER COLO1:COLUMBUS FRA 24: 16.8/: 1.6: 15.3 / 16.4 / 15.3 / 16.5 TUE PM CIRO1:CIRCLEVILLE 14: 17.4/: 2.6: 17.2 / 15.1 / 14.6 / 18.3 TUE PM CHCO1:CHILLICOTHE 16: 12.5/: 1.4: 14.6 / 12.3 / 11.5 / 14.8 WED AM PKTO1:PIKETON 18: 20.2/: 2.2: 21.1 / 21.6 / 19.3 / 21.9 WED PM : :HOCKING RIVER ENTO1:ENTERPRISE 12: 12.9/: 3.6: 9.6 / 5.8 / 4.7 / 12.1 TUE PM END
March 2, 200718 yr We're getting some throughput again...increasing the bandwidth of the ol' Ohio... Here's yesterday's commentary: DAILY RIVER AND LAKE SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 1104 AM EST THU MAR 01 2007 ..POTENTIAL FOR MINOR RIVER FLOODING HIGH TODAY AND FRIDAY... ..RISES TO NEAR FLOOD STAGE ANTICIPATED ALONG THE OHIO RIVER... A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL PUSH THROUGH THE GREAT LAKES REGION TODAY THROUGH LATE FRIDAY...BRINGING WIDESPREAD ONE INCH RAINFALL TO THE BASIN...WITH RAINFALL IN THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING TWO INCHES. THE TRIBUTARIES WITH THE GREATEST THREAT FOR FLOODING ARE THE UPPER GREAT MIAMI...THE MIDDLE SCIOTO...OHIO BRUSH CREEK...BIG DARBY CREEK...THE HOCKING AND THE LICKING RIVER IN OHIO. WITH SOME LINGERING SNOW PACK IN THE UPPER GREAT MIAMI...IF AN INCH OF RAIN DOES OCCUR OVER MUCH OF THE BASIN...MINOR RIVER FLOODING IS LIKELY. HEAVIER RAINFALL IS EXPECTED IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO...BUT LITTLE TO NO SNOW PACK REMAINS IN THIS AREA. IF THE INCH AND A HALF FORECAST PRECIPITATION DOES MATERIALIZE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS...MINOR FLOODING WILL OCCUR IN PORTIONS OF THE MIDDLE SCIOTO...HOCKING AND LICKING BASINS OF OHIO. FURTHER UP THE OHIO RIVER BASIN...WHERE SNOWPACK REMAINS IN PENNSYLVANIA...SIMILAR RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE ANTICIPATED. THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THE SNOW MELT AND RAINFALL...COMBINED WITH THE OHIO RIVER ALREADY BEING HIGH...WILL MEAN THAT RISES APPROACHING FLOOD STAGE ARE ANTICIPATED EARLY NEXT WEEK. WHILE NO OHIO RIVER POINT IS EXPECTED TO EXCEED FLOOD STAGE AT THIS TIME...IT IS CERTAINLY POSSIBLE IF THE CURRENT FORECAST PRECIPITATION IS EXCEEDED. ...and here's today's complete update: DAILY RIVER AND LAKE SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 143 AM EST FRI MAR 02 2007 THE HEAVY RAIN HAS MOVED EAST OF THE AREA BUT RIVERS WILL CONTINUE TO RISE THROUGH THIS MORNING. FLOODING WAS ALREADY REPORTED ALONG THE GREAT AND LITTLE MIAMI RIVERS...THE MAD RIVER AND THE WEST FORK OF THE WHITEWATER RIVER...AS WELL AS MANY SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS. THE MIDDLE SCIOTO...OHIO BRUSH CREEK...BIG DARBY CREEK...THE HOCKING AND THE LICKING RIVER IN OHIO WILL ALL APPROACH OR EXCEED FLOOD STAGE BEFORE RECEDING THIS AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION...HEAVY RAINFALL AND SNOW MELT OVER PENNSYLVANIA... COMBINED WITH THE OHIO RIVER ALREADY BEING HIGH...WILL MEAN THAT RISES APPROACHING FLOOD STAGE ARE ANTICIPATED EARLY NEXT WEEK. WHILE NO OHIO RIVER POINT IS EXPECTED TO EXCEED FLOOD STAGE AT THIS TIME...IT IS CERTAINLY POSSIBLE IF THE CURRENT FORECAST PRECIPITATION IS EXCEEDED. B ILN 0302 DC030201 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : STATION FLD 11PM 24-HR 7AM CREST :ID NAME STG STG CHANGE FORECASTS DAY AND : SAT SUN MON TIME : : OHIO RIVER PORO1:PORTSMOUTH 50: 27.6/: M: 39.8 / 45.4 / 47.1 / 47.1 MON AM MYSK2:MAYSVILLE 50: 36.7/: M: 38.5 / 44.8 / 47.9 / 48.2 MON PM CCNO1:CINCINNATI 52: 37.7/: M: 39.5 / 45.8 / 48.7 / 50.0 TUE AM : B ILN 0302 DC030201 DH12/HT/DRH+24/HTIFF/DRH+48/HTIFF/DRH+72/HTIFF : MELO1:MELDAHL DAM 51: 30.9/: M: 35.4 / 43.3 / 46.9 / 47.7 TUE AM MKLK2:MARKLAND DAM 51: 32.5/: M: 33.9 / 38.5 / 42.0 / 43.6 TUE AM : B ILN 0302 DC030201 DH12/HG/DRH+24/HGIFF/DRH+48/HGIFF/DRH+72/HGIFF : : LICKING RIVER(KY) FLMK2:FALMOUTH 28: M/: M: 11.0 / 9.8 / 8.3 / 11.0 SAT AM : : LITTLE MIAMI RIVER KIMO1:KINGS MILLS 17: M/: M: 9.5 / 7.9 / 6.8 / 17.5 FRI AM MLGO1:MILFORD 17: 14.8/: M: 11.6 / 9.0 / 7.6 / 17.6 FRI AM : : MAD RIVER SPRO1:SPRINGFIELD 11: 10.0/: M: 5.7 / 3.2 / 2.7 / 11.3 FRI AM : : GREAT MIAMI RIVER SIDO1:SIDNEY 10: 11.0/: M: 8.3 / 5.6 / 4.7 / 13.0 FRI AM DTNO1:DAYTON 41: 30.6/: M: 31.7 / 30.4 / 28.9 / 31.7 SAT AM MBGO1:MIAMISBURG 17: 15.8/: M: 16.7 / 14.7 / 12.4 / 16.7 SAT AM HAMO1:HAMILTON 75: 70.4/: M: 70.9 / 69.6 / 67.6 / 71.0 FRI PM MIAO1:MIAMITOWN 16: M/: M: 19.9 / 17.0 / 11.7 / 19.9 SAT AM : : WHITEWATER RIVER BRKI3:BROOKVILLE 20: 11.8/: M: 8.9 / 6.1 / 5.8 / 14.3 FRI AM ALPI3:ALPINE 17: 16.9/: M: 13.0 / 10.9 / 10.4 / 18.4 FRI AM : : OLENTANGY RIVER WRTO1:WORTHINGTON 13: 8.3/: M: 3.3 / 3.4 / 3.2 / 6.1 FRI AM : : DARBY CREEK DBVO1:DARBYVILLE 10: 8.1/: M: 11.0 / 9.2 / 7.4 / 11.0 SAT AM : : SCIOTO RIVER COLO1:COLUMBUS FRA 24: 13.7/: M: 15.4 / 13.8 / 12.1 / 17.5 FRI AM CIRO1:CIRCLEVILLE 14: 9.7/: M: 16.7 / 15.2 / 13.0 / 17.1 SAT AM CHCO1:CHILLICOTHE 16: 7.7/: M: 13.5 / 12.4 / 10.5 / 13.8 SAT PM PKTO1:PIKETON 18: 12.0/: M: 17.9 / 21.0 / 18.6 / 21.0 SUN AM : : LICKING RIVER OHIO NEAO1:NEWARK 14: 9.4/: M: 8.6 / 7.1 / 6.1 / 11.2 FRI AM : :HOCKING RIVER ENTO1:ENTERPRISE 12: 5.2/: M: 9.4 / 6.7 / 5.0 / 9.7 FRI PM : :OHIO BRUSH CREEK WUNO1:WEST UNION 15: 6.5/: M: 6.7 / M / M / 19.0 FRI AM END
August 30, 200717 yr The Ohio River isn't actually rising - it's been really, really low for a long time now - in fact, it hasn't cracked 30 feet since May 1st (which isn't terribly unusual). But I ran across a reference to the time in 1967 when a barge blocked one of Markland's gates open, and the river level got as low as 14ish feet in Cincinnati. So using the New York Time Historical Newspaper Database that comes with one's Cincinnati Library cardholdership, I found this AP story in the June 1st, 1967 New York Times: OHIO RIVER CLEARED OF A SUNKEN BARGE CINCINNATI, May 31 (AP) A sunken barge that had blocked Gate 5 of the Markland Dam and caused a traffic jam on the Ohio River was removed today, the United States Army Engineers reported. Army spokesmen said normal traffic on the river's 95-mile run between Markland, Ind., and Chilo, Ohio, would soon be able to resume. Because the gate had been jammed open, the water level had fallen too low for towboats, and traffic had been halted since Friday. A string of barges tore loose May 16 and smashed against the dam, which is 61 miles downstream from Cincinnati. The barges caused some damage, but the stubborn vessel at the bottom of Gate 5 gave the most trouble. Workmen first tried to raise the barge with a crane but could not put enough slings under the vessel. Explosives also proved unsuccessful. Finally, engineers pumped air under the capsized hull to raise it. It was lashed to a floating barge and pulled out of the gate.
August 30, 200717 yr HAMO1:HAMILTON 75: 70.8/: 0.2: 70.0 / 68.9 / 67.4 / 70.7 TUE PM I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but these numbers can't be right. The levies are 52 feet, and the river is far below that. I think WKRC reported 66 feet a couple of months back, and I questioned that as well. Who might I contact, Riverviewer?
August 30, 200717 yr Nice catch...I've been grabbing this data for a little over three years, so I can confirm that this station used to report based on a flood stage of 18 feet, but that changed in October, 2006. Digging back through, I found that they included this note in the daily forecast for a while around that time: ATTENTION: BEGINNING OCTOBER 20...THE METHOD THE NWS USES TO REPORT RIVER STAGE AT THE GREAT MIAMI AT HAMILTON WILL CHANGE. THE USGS AND THE MIAMI CONSERVANCY DISTRICT BOTH REPORT HAMILTON RIVER ELEVATION AS A FUNCTION OF THE MEAN SEA LEVEL ELEVATION...WHILE THE NWS CURRENTLY CONVERTS THIS VALUE DAILY TO THE ACTUAL DEPTH OF WATER IN THE RIVER. EFFECTIVE IN MID OCTOBER...THE NWS WILL REPORT THE STAGE AND FORECAST VALUES USING THE SAME METHODOLOGY AS THE USGS AND THE CONSERVANCY. FOR AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THE RIVER DATA ACTUALLY IS REPORTING, PLEASE REFERENCE THE FOLLOWING USGS PAGE... HTTP://WATERDATA.USGS.GOV/OH/NWIS/UV?03274000 Now, I'm not sure why they decided to do this - I mean, the other heights are based on the actual depth of the water in the river - but for some reason, they decided they needed to do it. Now, given that flood stage went from 18 feet to 75 feet, I guess all you have to do is subtract 57 feet from whatever it reads to get back to the actual depth of the river. It also means that those 52' levies have now become 109' levies, relatively speaking... I guess that still leaves the question of why they did that in this one location...on the site map for that station, there's a link for anyone who has questions about this site or its data (look for the "Questions about sites/data?" link near the bottom). I'd imagine they can help explain why the change...if you find anything out, please let us know - I'd love to hear why they did this... P.S. Ink - know your watershed!
February 6, 200817 yr It's at 40 feet today in Cincinnati. The river is forecast to reach 51 feet next week, the highest level since 2005.
February 6, 200817 yr we ought to bottle it and run ads in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, 'Bama, etc, July thru October! KOOW...work on that! Make it happen!
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