# Upper Trinity River flow



## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

The rains in Dallas last week produced less of a flow than expected.
There is a small slug of about 7000 cfs in the river between Rosser and Oakwood.
It should be coming into the lake by Friday barring any further rain.
The Lake is still two feet low so it should absorb that incoming water without going over the 131.0 level. I don't anticipate seeing any gates open unless there is a major creek adding more water than I can see at this time.
The water coming down will be super muddy and full of trash. The river bed has not been flushed in quite some time.
Should see some good cat fish activity on the upper lake by the weekend.


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## madhatter1256 (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

Yeah, I was watching the rain storms split around and miss the metroplex consistently. Big disappointment.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Of course I am grateful for any rain, but I have been disappointed with the upper river flows shown. I think the Bedias Creek gauge got stuck for a couple days, but still ..... The whole watershed in general must have really soaked it up!

On a different note, weather like today or just a bit cooler would be nice for October 19th!


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## MrTroutsnot (Dec 6, 2012)

Thanks SB


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The run off will not even make a dent in the water clarity on the south end, which is excellent right now.
It might help break up the thermocline, btw, the urface temp was 82 this morning, a big improvement.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

shadslinger said:


> the surface temp was 82 this morning, a big improvement.


Crappie! Crappie! Crappie!


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## pYr8 (Apr 17, 2012)

Just enough to muddy things up on the upper, huh?


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## nikki (Apr 14, 2011)

As of now I don't see much change in Somerville as it takes 5"+ but I'll try the mouths tomorrow morn for cats but its been great past few weeks drifting. WB's were disappointing this year.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

That little slug is coming down river like a tsunami! 
It crested a Trinidad yesterday at noon, at Oakwood last night at midnight and reached the Lock n Dam this morning.
It will be flowing into the Trinity TX area by this time tomorrow.
Wow! That river channel must have been dry in a lot of places.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

Let's hope the lake level increase holds to past lake level increases after a big rain. I have informally watched how much the lake rises after a rain and the lake typically rises 3x to 4x for each inch of rain we receive, i.e. 1" of rain results in a 3 to 4 inch rise in lake level, 3x when it is really dry and up to 4x when there is good moisture in the ground before the rain. So far it looks like the lake came up 1:1 with the rain, which is less than average so I am doubtful that we will get a 4x total this time. Since we got 4.5", I was hoping to see a 20" rise but fear we could end up seeing a total of 12" or less...I hope I am wrong.


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

GT11 said:


> Let's hope the lake level increase holds to past lake level increases after a big rain. I have informally watched how much the lake rises after a rain and the lake typically rises 3x to 4x for each inch of rain we receive, i.e. 1" of rain results in a 3 to 4 inch rise in lake level, 3x when it is really dry and up to 4x when there is good moisture in the ground before the rain. So far it looks like the lake came up 1:1 with the rain, which is less than average so I am doubtful that we will get a 4x total this time. Since we got 4.5", I was hoping to see a 20" rise but fear we could end up seeing a total of 12" or less...I hope I am wrong.


Watching this lake for 30 years myself, I can tell you that it generally only matters how much rain Dallas gets. Local rainfall is nearly insignificant. In fact the lake will be back to where it was before the rain in a week or so without the storm runoff from Dallas. And it doesn't appear Dallas got much rain at all.


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?c...&format=gif_default&period=7&site_no=08066190


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The lake looked lower to me this morning, Pine Island has a great beach all around it now.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

The river will crest at the Lock n Dam late this afternoon at 6000 cfs.
True Loy, the lake has begin to fall again after the local surface rain.
This slug that is entering the lake in the next day or so will slow the fall some.
We still need lots of rain.


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Pet Spoon said:


> Crappie! Crappie! Crappie!


LOL... calm down PS! They'll bite soon enough.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

Are we already starting to see the slug of water make an impact on the south end of the lake?


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

That and they apparently close the gate some more.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I could swear the lake on around the island looked lower again today, had to take care to keep from running aground where I was able to safely anchor or drift yesterday.
Looking at the gauge you posted I wonder if the north wind was stacking the water up on it.
Where is the gauge located, at the dam?
The only gauge I have for Goodrich is 08066250, which is at the river bridge below the dam.


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

SS, when do you think the Crappie will start biting, it's getting exciting for the bite?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

shadslinger said:


> I could swear the lake on around the island looked lower again today, had to take care to keep from running aground where I was able to safely anchor or drift yesterday.
> Looking at the gauge you posted I wonder if the north wind was stacking the water up on it.
> Where is the gauge located, at the dam?
> The only gauge I have for Goodrich is 08066250, which is at the river bridge below the dam.


SS, or anyone, to see lake levels instead of river/creek levels, see the attached image.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

markbrumbaugh said:


> That and they apparently close the gate some more.


You are right!
Maybe with the rain near the coast, not as much river water needed for irrigation?


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

That gage is at the dam on LL. There is another one on the north end of the lake and two on Kickapoo. The Kickapoo gages aren't great but the one at the dam and upper river are good.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Thanks GT11 and WBF I am adding them to my bookmarks.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

GT11 said:


> That gage is at the dam on LL. There is another one on the north end of the lake and two on Kickapoo. The Kickapoo gages aren't great but the one at the dam and upper river are good.


Gauges that are normally above 131.0 feet above sea level basically only tell you about local rain or a slug going by. The Riverside gauge is well within the 131.0 normal level. Many gauges are not based on sea level.

One of the gauges on Kickapoo seems to be sea level related, but when I asked for a historical trend it seems the data is not there?


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

The last little slug has spread out between Lock n Dam and Riverside. It peaked at L n D yesterday afternoon at 5000 cfs.
The leading edge has reached the upper lake. The dam level gauge indicates 128.95 with no wind effect.
So lets monitor it to see how much a 8 hour long 1.75" average rain in Dallas raises LL.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

More rain!! Pine island will be accessible by golf cart soon.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

The goods news is, the lake is still rising. The bad news, it typically rises a lot faster than this after a good rain up north. Maybe this is due to the gates closing some and we will get a more of an increase from the slug coming down. The second bit of good news is we would probably be pushing 128' instead of 129' without the rain.


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## "The Marshall" (Jan 12, 2005)

Whitebassfisher said:


> Of course I am grateful for any rain, but I have been disappointed with the upper river flows shown. I think the Bedias Creek gauge got stuck for a couple days, but still ..... The whole watershed in general must have really soaked it up!
> 
> On a different note, weather like today or just a bit cooler would be nice for October 19th!


Do you have a link to check these gauges


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

"The Marshall" said:


> Do you have a link to check these gauges


Sure:

For rivers/creeks
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/current/?type=flow

For lakes:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/current/?type=lake&group_key=basin_cd


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

*Well, that rise was anemic...maybe we can at least hold our own*

For a while.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

A good choice of words Mark. It looks like we are about 7 inches higher than we would have been with no rain. As a guy, I won't complain about an honest 7 inches.


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

Whitebassfisher said:


> A good choice of words Mark. It looks like we are about 7 inches higher than we would have been with no rain. As a guy, I won't complain about an honest 7 inches.


Me either!


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