Water Vapor GOES 21 December 2010
h/t to George in this comment on the Utah Wet posting for the image
OK, we had the rains. There is more on the way, but it cleared last night long enough for me to get a 5 minute view of the total eclipse of the moon; and today it’s bright outside, even if no sun is visible behind the clouds. May even make it through the day without being rained out…
We were watching the Western Rain in this posting:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/cooling-and-wet-utah/
Now the question becomes: Where did that water go, and was there a lot of it reaching the ground?
Well, a big h/t to David who pointed me at the USGS stream flow data source. Thanks to that, we have some nice maps with present stream flow rates to look at.
First up, Arizona.
It’s a bit off the storm track and has been having a bit of a drouth lately. All we’re looking for here is something to be getting back toward normal, even just a little. It’s still ‘way early’ in the storm cycle and we’ve only just started having the storm door open. Furthermore, Arizona is in an odd position. It gets some of the California type cycle, but it also gets some of the eastern style with thunderstorms in summer. Sometimes small hurricanes run up the Gulf of California and dump a load on Phoenix. Very strange place some times.
Arizona Current Drought November 2010
Original from this page / site inset.
Based on historical stream flow to date, they are having some significant drought conditions. Does the present stream flow offer any hope of this resolving?
Arizona Real Time Streamflow 21 Dec 2010 13:30 ET
Streamflow Legend
Original Image, but it’s live so will change…
Still some spots that didn’t get rained upon, but generally “normal” stream flow. Hey, maybe that drought is slowly coming to an end? I note that Flagstaff is way above normal now, so their drouth looks to be ending.
Utah Stream Flow
How is Utah looking in all this?
Utah Realtime Streamflow 21 DEC 2010 13:30 ET
Streamflow Legend
Original Image, but it’s live so will change…
Well. Quite a few well above normal. Those “black dots” in the lower left corner are a bit of a worry too.
Looks to me like this “Gully Washer” is turning into a “Frog Drowner” or “Frog Strangler” as my Texas Uncle Ken likes to call them…
Calfornia
California had first dibs on the clouds, did it also get a boat load of rain?
(Did we ever… but here’s the map to show it.)
California Real Time Streamflow 21 December 2010 13:30 ET
Streamflow Legend
Original Image, but it’s live so will change…
Talk about being beaten black and blue…
Whooo-Wheee! Look at all those black dots down in the Los Angeles Basin area! Makes those paltry “above normal” and “much above normal” up where I am look positively anemic in comparison… Though I’m thinking maybe I ought to go eyeball the creek about 1/2 mile from me… I’m up hill from it, but only about 3 feet. It’s flooded the houses in the 100 feet next to it before… (but never gotten even close to me in the nearly 30 years we’ve lived here… wait, where have I heard that 30 year number before 8-}
In Conclusion
We’ve had a heck of a storm, and we’ve been able to watch it from clouds, to rain, to stream flow levels. Kind of neat, isn’t it? We’ve also seen the historical studies that show this western basin gets more water when a cycle turns to cooling. We clearly had less water during the recent warming part of the cycle. (The Arizona Drought Map and the Lake Mead water level show that). So if the “Warmers” want to assert that the increased droughts were due to “Warming” then they must also accept that the recent turn to wetter is due to the cooling half of the cycle which we have entered.
But water cycles take time to work. So we’ll get to watch this part of the show for the next year or two as it slowly unfolds.
Musings from the Chiefio 
http://www.wunderground.com/US/UT/019.html#FLO
Anyone driving North from Las Vegas to St. George should have an absolutely spectacular drive through the Virgin River Gorge!
Also cool about the USGS site is it shows lake levels and water tables, which if your well happens to tap into, this is really nice to know.
Because so many streams are dammed and have reservoirs, stream flow may not be a great indication of drought unless you choose an unrestricted stream. The unrestricted Merced flowing through Yosemite is a great example. For over one year it has been consitently well above the mean, yet during the entire time I keep reading of Calif drought.
The merced for the last 120 days.http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis
Prior to August it was well above normal and only reached normal levels for part of August and September.
oops, missed the correct link
@George:
Hope those folks diving up the Virgin River Gorge have a powerful motor on that boat! ;-)
But yeah, the view would be spectacular!
@David:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt
(that I found from the link you gave)
has a neat national stream flow map where you can click on your state and see what’s happening.
Here’s the Merced River link
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?11266500
presently running 10 x median 4 x mean and 1/5 Max Ever set in 1956.
Here’s the same page with the ‘counter’ set to 120 days instead of 7 ( I think that’s what you were trying to do) and it DOES look impressive.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=gif_default&period=120&site_no=11266500
Thanks EM. Prior to Sept 11th 2010 when the run off from 2009 finally receeded to normal the guage was well above the mean for months consectively as the 2009 melt and snowpack was above normal. If you take a look, keep in mind the lines are logarithmic on these charts.
@E.M. Smith
You don’t need a boat, Interstate 15 goes right through the gorge. It is a nice drive from Mesquite, NV to St. George, UT that I take once every couple of years or so. It is spectacular at any time of year but probably particularly so right now. What is a shame is that there is nowhere to pull over in the gorge. There is barely enough room for the roadway!
@George:
Note the ;-) on my prior comment… I’ve driven the gorge, and it is a wonderful view. But, like you said “barely enough room for the roadway”… Wonder when it becomes a “boat way” 8-)