Heat Plus Fire Makes Hot- Hot!
It is not bad enough to have 100 plus temperatures but now we have the added feature of fire along the Down River section of the Trinity. The good about the fire is that it is of low intensity and burning under story. I think that is about all that is left from the fires that happened several years ago. From what I understand is that Hwy 299 from Hayden Flat to Big Bar is one-way escorted travel. The Report from Del Loma is that there is a lot of smoke but not a great amount of fire. No mandatory evacuation as of this morning (Monday Aug. 2)
Water Flow Changes; 8/1/21 0001am 450 – 750cfs, 8/2/21 0001am 750 – 650cfs, 8/4/21 0001am 650 – 550cfs, 8/4/21 0400am 550 – 450cfs, by order of Bureau of Reclamation. I have not been able to find out the reasoning for the increase of water flows yet but am trying too. In the mean time please be careful while recreating on the Trinity for the next several days.
The Trinity Board of Supervisors meeting Aug. 3, 2021 had Mike Dixon of the TRRP make a presentation on the Trinity River Restoration Projects and what they are suppose to have done for the river and Fish? That should be interesting!3
Gravel Augmentation to the Upper Trinity; work has been essentially been completed on a project that has been ongoing since Jul. 15th and concluded Jul. 23rd, gravel being injected into the river near the hatchery. 6,200 yards of gravel was injected into the river below the dam supposedly to provide nesting for salmon. All of this happening during a “Low Water Year” amidst a drought. The results; water turbidity for the Upper Trinity as salmon are entering the hatchery. July 23 – July 29 328 Chinook salmon passed through the Junction City Weir. Will any of these salmon use the fresh gravel? I doubt it, because the gravel had dirt mixed in it which caused the turbidity.
Junction City weir summary: Julian week 30 ending the week of July 29, 2021 for Spring-Run Chinook salmon; 89 – jacks, season total 140, 239- adults, total of 328, season total of 961; Coho salmon, 0 jacks, season total 0, 0 adults, season total 0; steelhead, 0- 1/2lber, 13- adults, for total of 13, season total 59; Brown trout 0, season total 6. Note: last report typo of season total 77 was wrong.
Fishing: The temperatures have been like a roller-coaster, up one week and down the next only to go back up again. The good news is this little flush last week brought up a nice slug of salmon. Hopefully more will follow and the fishing in Willow Creek will pick up. Word form down at the mouth of the Klamath fishing is good on the tides but a little slim on the slack tides. Up river fishing should be much better now that fresh fish have arrived. Fish On!
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 2,047cfs. This is a decrease of 108cfs. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 9,052cfs. With the increase of water from Iron Gate and the quick flush from the Trinity, maybe the Mid-Klamath will get a nice influx of salmon. The Lower Klamath will open for Winter Run Chinook salmon on Aug. 15th. Hopefully the heat will die down and allow the rivers to cool down some for the salmon. I am still not hearing about much fishing in the Upper Klamath but with the increase of water flows fishing below the dam down to I-5 should start to really pick up.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 98% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 2,216cfs and releasing 2,116cfs in to Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 32% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 10ft) with inflows of 2,259cfs and releasing 6,400cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 94% (a decrease of 2%) with inflows of 8,872cfs and releasing 9,052cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is N/A% of capacity (a decrease of N/A% minus 16ft) with inflows of -1,110cfs with releases of 4,128cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 25% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 4ft) with inflows of 854cfs with releases of 1,156cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 115ft below the overflow (an increase of 8ft) and 41% of capacity (a decrease of 3%) with inflows of -19cfs and releasing 2,545cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,911cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 9,052cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 91% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) and water releases are 634cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 50.7 degrees, as of 9:30am today Monday August 2, 2021. Limekiln Gulch is 5.17ft at 615cfs. Douglas City is 6.81ft with flows of 638cfs. with air temps of N/A and water temperatures of N/A degrees. Junction City is 2.491ft at 764cfs. Helena is 9.26ft at 757cfs with water temps of N/A degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 3.23ft at /62cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 1.92ft at 33cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 795cfs and air is 69 degrees and water at 71 degrees. Hoopa is 11.19ft at 634cfs and water is 74.7 degrees.
Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 2,047cfs a decrease of 108cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 9,052cfs. Seiad Valley is 1.90ft at 1,062cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,125cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,247cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.37ft at 166cfs. Orleans is 2.08ft at 1,413cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 7.90ft at 2,104cfs and water temps are 73.5 degrees. (Cooling down some) Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 4.57ft with flows of 210cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.69ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 109 and a low of 63 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 45.11 inches and 1.5in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted weather for next week is high of 100 and a low of 60. The predicted weather for next week is expected to be a bit cooler which will be a relief form all of the hot weather. Hopefully the rivers will cool down some also.