Snowmelt season runoff

Stage = 57.25 cm, Q = 3.24 m3/s, Vmax = 0.94 m/s

Snowmelt season in full swing today with fine weather melt conditions. Stage starts to rise about 11am, and peaks about 6pm. Maximum velocities in the centre of the channel reaching nearly 1 m/s making it hard to hold the current meter in position. Unsteady flow and standing waves make it difficult to estimate the flow depth as it constantly fluctuates. However, despite the moderately high discharge level, the water remains extremely clear with no visible sediment load.

The hydrograph above shows a period of fine weather melt during late March where we can see the diurnal melt pattern rising day by day. In contrast, the larger and more abrupt peak flow on April 15 is a rain-on-snow event due to 54 mm of precipitation with a maximum intensity of 12 mm/h.