Another powell video by Eric Hansen just got posted today - Time is Up For the River That Feeds America
It is clear that Eric is closely aligned with GCI as two of his last powell videos include a one on one with GCI.
I love YouTube and love lake powell - it really looks like the tone is shifting toward end of life before a rebirth as noted from a lot of the top influencers lately including riverrat. In another recent powell youtube, references were made to GCI and in several scenes they were also looking at a website www.riverpowell.com on the screen, which I tried to access and it just timeout with an error. Regardless of your view on GCI and eric, a ton of new and also accurate info is shared on both of his last 2 videos. I don’t support GCI wanting a to drain the lake to get the canyons back but am always curious with opposing views to mine.
On another note it has been pouring harder than I have ever seen in the last 40 years in the high country - there is a fat high pressure parked over the Midwest pushing tons of moisture up and around dumping water the entire way.
My biggest concern that I have posted before is hot wind and warmer temps across the winter months, melting snow months early and also sucking the moisture right into the sky - GCI also noted this as a big new trend on Erics last video. Last year it was really warm above 7000 feet from Jan - April and that melted a lot of the thin snow we had months early. By the time the spring hit the snow was all gone, soaked up by the dry dirt and sucked away with 70F wind months before.
If the winter is going to continue with the moisture I have seen over the last month we are going to need the plywood again, but if the rain pattern fades away or if the winter temps turn warm like last year, all bets are off to a normal runoff.
Right now we are dropping 1 foot a week and it is Sept 1, a full 7 months from whatever runoff we may get. That’s 28 feet of water, and even if they cut that in half, that is still 15 feet, which means real world will probably be in the middle somewhere and that means about a 20 foot drop from today before April 15.
With 20 more feet of water gone navigation is going to be the biggest issue at Wahweap, there are going to be a bunch more islands popping up. Access will become secondary to simply safely navigating from the boat ramp to the deep water by the dam before heading uplake.
i hate to say it, but if we do not get a decent runoff in April I do not see how Wahweap survives to 2028.
The low water level in April is defiantly going to show a lake level I hopefully will never see again, I will be there on April 15 dodging rocks heading uplake sad if the runoff is low or very happy with a 92 foot miracle on the way.
Folks, it is getting real…
.
It is clear that Eric is closely aligned with GCI as two of his last powell videos include a one on one with GCI.
I love YouTube and love lake powell - it really looks like the tone is shifting toward end of life before a rebirth as noted from a lot of the top influencers lately including riverrat. In another recent powell youtube, references were made to GCI and in several scenes they were also looking at a website www.riverpowell.com on the screen, which I tried to access and it just timeout with an error. Regardless of your view on GCI and eric, a ton of new and also accurate info is shared on both of his last 2 videos. I don’t support GCI wanting a to drain the lake to get the canyons back but am always curious with opposing views to mine.
On another note it has been pouring harder than I have ever seen in the last 40 years in the high country - there is a fat high pressure parked over the Midwest pushing tons of moisture up and around dumping water the entire way.
My biggest concern that I have posted before is hot wind and warmer temps across the winter months, melting snow months early and also sucking the moisture right into the sky - GCI also noted this as a big new trend on Erics last video. Last year it was really warm above 7000 feet from Jan - April and that melted a lot of the thin snow we had months early. By the time the spring hit the snow was all gone, soaked up by the dry dirt and sucked away with 70F wind months before.
If the winter is going to continue with the moisture I have seen over the last month we are going to need the plywood again, but if the rain pattern fades away or if the winter temps turn warm like last year, all bets are off to a normal runoff.
Right now we are dropping 1 foot a week and it is Sept 1, a full 7 months from whatever runoff we may get. That’s 28 feet of water, and even if they cut that in half, that is still 15 feet, which means real world will probably be in the middle somewhere and that means about a 20 foot drop from today before April 15.
With 20 more feet of water gone navigation is going to be the biggest issue at Wahweap, there are going to be a bunch more islands popping up. Access will become secondary to simply safely navigating from the boat ramp to the deep water by the dam before heading uplake.
i hate to say it, but if we do not get a decent runoff in April I do not see how Wahweap survives to 2028.
The low water level in April is defiantly going to show a lake level I hopefully will never see again, I will be there on April 15 dodging rocks heading uplake sad if the runoff is low or very happy with a 92 foot miracle on the way.
Folks, it is getting real…
.
