Thursday, June 18, 2009

Rising rivers...

Obama inherited a huge budget deficit from Bush and our region inherited a big precipitation deficit from last year. Looks like the later may finally be erased by the end of this week. Finally, great canoeing conditions on the creeks and little rivers.

The NWS hasn't posted any flood watches yet, but that could change later today for small streams. The Delaware River at the Riegelsville Gage shows it is surging to 7 feet, but won't get close to the 22' flood stage. The Lehigh at Bethlehem is also rising quickly and that is the primary influence for the Delaware River below Easton. For towns like Riegelsville, Stockton, New Hope and Yardley it's all about the Lehigh. Forget about the NYC reservoirs. They could be at 50% capacity and major flooding could occur. Why? Because the Lehigh River watershed is as large as all three major reservoirs combined.

The NJ tribs are also running higher than normal, which is the reverse of the prior several minths. The Musconetcong is heading towards 2' at the Bloomsbury Gage.