No PPV or stoked fire today Nope, it was roll out the generator and gas her up!



Power has been out in the entire area for awhile now, and they're saying it might be some time. In the pic below you can see a hemlock that came across 101 and the main power lines just north of Forks a bit ago and it created a domino effect of snapping the tops of the power poles, about a half dozen in all. You can see the broken pole in the back of the pic ...



Rivers are rising hard, a couple of inches of rain so far and it's very warm and very windy so I'm sure the snow up high is on it's way down.

The Calawah is already in the trees and only a couple of hours into the rise, I'll post some more pix tomorrow

well bob all that weather looks like you will be able too catch up on all those preties that we lost for ya a couple weeks ago!

ps: your one hell of a guide

thanks for a good time

Bob,
Don't forget to gas up the STIHL

Mine's always gassed up SH Never know when you might need it ... as in maybe to get out of my driveway in a bit.

As I said, mine's a little more beat up than yours ... been around the block a few times, pretty sure a repeat spawner

More update:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/Missoula/msoobs?site=TOFW1&type=2&src=rgl

Upper Hoh drainage has had 2.73 inches in the last 6 hours alone. Yikes!

And another:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/Missoula/msoobs?site=HURW1&type=2&src=rgl

85 MPH gusts at Hurricane Ridge, living up to its name!

Looks like your having fun Bob!

How do you sleep with all the trees coming down around ya?

Be safe.

Thanks Jason ... we'll be safe.

I feel for the PUD crews that are out truing to fish the mess tonight, they're now saying it will likely be mid-morning before it's all done due to the continued poor weather. Thanls fellas!!

I just got from town to get a cup of hot java ... the 'Duc was at 24 boards when I left the house, 29 now

Here's the latest from NWS:

FLOOD WARNING
745 PM PST WED MAR 12 2003

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WARNING FOR SMALL
STREAMS IN THE FOLLOWING WESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY...

CLALLAM COUNTY.

$$

THE BOGACHIEL RIVER IS THE MOST LIKELY TO FLOOD. OBSERVED RIVER
HEIGHT UPSTREAM ON THE CALAWAH RIVER AT 730 PM SHOWED 15.4 FEET AND
RISING. FLOODING ON THE BOGACHIEL IS MOST LIKELY BETWEEN THE TOWN
OF FORKS AND LA PUSH AND WILL INUNDATE HWY 110.

WARM AND MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL BRING RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES...TO
WESTERN WASHINGTON MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. THE SNOW LEVEL IN
THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE HIGH...6000 TO 7000 FEET THROUGH THURSDAY. AT
THIS TIME THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS APPEAR TO BE THE FOCUS OF THE RAIN.

A FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. IF YOU
LIVE ALONG A FLOOD PRONE RIVER IN THE WATCH AREA...BE READY TO ACT
QUICKLY IF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ISSUES A FLOOD WARNING. DO
NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED AREAS...THIS IS THE CAUSE OF
MOST FLOOD RELATED DEATHS IN WASHINGTON.

Bob...it would be safe to say you are probally the only one in Forks online!!

...anyways, how far has the river risen up to the house...has it ever came close to your yard?

Reports are saying this one has the potential to be the worst of the season!

Queets is at 45000

Calawah almost to 20000

What is the highest you've seen the Calawah Bob? It is pretty amazing that during this storm the Hoh and the Calawah have been around the same cfs the whole time. Is this because the Calawah is a steeper drainage thus the water is moving at a faster pace? Or does it have the same amount of water in it as the hoh right now?

Holy smokes! That some "extreme' weather
I can't fish and I can't ski......

Better go to the fuel store Bob! got a fireplace or are you on natural gas/propane? Well, atleast the computer is running....


Good luck, keep the raft inflated!

Good river level watching, Darin

This weather is terrible. SInce the power was out, i had to go into work and empty the entire freezer isle so that we didn't loose product. Got done with that about 3 am. It's beena rough day. I keep hearing people saying that it is going to be just as bad tonight. Anyone hear any other reports? By the way, if anyone happens to float the Sol Duc after this and notices a green 12' or 14' fiberglass boat hung up somewhere below Iverson Hole, would you let me know. We didn't expect the water to come up as high as we tied it up, Now it's gone. I would appreciate anyone keeping their eyes out for it. Thanks.

Nevermind, i found the boat

Glad to hear you found the boat Josh

'Duc is still rolling along, was at 47 boards last night and I know it has dropped some, but not a lot yet.

Other rivers have finally peaked and are dropping pretty fast right now, but that drop will slow ... it's tough to hold the sort of flows we've seen for too long with any decrease in rain.

I've seen the rivers a fair amount higher. The big storm of December 1999 set a lot of the all-time flow records out here and we were still about 1.5 feet below that. You expect those sorts of storms in December, but rarely March. Only once before have I seen that much water in March that I can recall.

The Calawah gauge usually shows the rise first as it's a shorter river and the water makes it down to the gauging station quicker. Levels during a storm also vary by watershed based on the track of the storm.

The Hoh has actually been higher than this this year, but it was far and away the biggest blast of the winter on the Quillayute system.

What's been different though, is that the rain was long-lived and it kept the flows up there for 12-18 hours vs. a hard spike and immediate drop ... that's where I think we'll see the biggest influence of the water on the Hoh, it should have had time to allow stuff to pile up and do some digging instead of just up, and down, dropping it's load.

Sounds like the worst of the rains are over, but they're keeping a close eye on the next round of wind.

Not really sure what we ended up with for town rainfall as gauge readings went down with power, but I saw that the Upper Hoh had over 8 inches of rain in 24 hours and I would be willing to guess that winds this morning at our hourse were pushing 65-70 mph in the gusts ... pretty wild!

Send some of that stuff my way!!! Our snow is melting and I'm haven't skiied enough this winter.
I sent this page to some friends here in Utah and all they could do was drool at all the water in the rivers.
Hope it subsides so everyone can enjoy a fresh shot of nates to send out March in the right style. Imagine the Springer boys in the LC are either dodging root wads or waiting for some viz.
Anyhow, the Utards, after gazing at this website are chomping at the bit to go fishing with Bobbo. I told them if they book for next year that Bob requires all clients to be decked out in WSU Cougar colors and gear before stepping aboard since he's an ardent Cougar supporter . Trying to drum up a little Rocky Mt. biz for you Bob (not that you need any help).
More storms like that and you'll need to step up to an 049 MAg.

And here comes round 3 or 4 (who's keeping count?)

WAZ015-016-150800-
CNTL COAST-NORTH COAST-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF.OCEAN SHORES.NEAH BAY.
FORKS & ABERDEEN
300 PM PST FRI MAR 14 2003

A HIGH WIND WATCH CONTINUES FOR LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SAT
MORNING.

A STRONG FRONTAL SYSTEM ASSOCIATED WITH A DEEP LOW PASSING THROUGH
THE OFFSHORE WATERS WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA SAT MORNING.
STRONG SO. TO SE WINDS OF 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH ARE
POSSIBLE WITH THE FRONT.

A HIGH WIND WATCH MEANS THAT THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR STRONG DAMAGING
WINDS TO DEVELOP. STRONG WINDS CAN DOWN TREES & POWER LINES AS WELL
AS CAUSE PROPERTY DAMAGE. PREPARE NOW FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF STRONG
DAMAGING WINDS & POWER OUTAGES. A HIGH WIND WARNING WILL BE
ISSUED IF DAMAGING WINDS BECOME IMMINENT.
$$

Bob,

You weren't running the computer off the generator were you? If so, that's very dangerous to your box. Generators don't supply clean power at all. I'd recommend an APC battery backup unit for the computer. I have a APB Backups PRO 650 and it has paid off more than several dozen times in the past 10 years. You can get replacement batteries for the UPSs on batteries.com for a really good price (If I got the APC branded one it would have cost me around $70, Batteries.com had the exact same battery, different name, for $30.

A little expensive, but well worth the price (and you get up to, depending on model and if hooked up per instructions, a warranty up to $25,000 coverage for anything that's connected to it if they go POOF!

SFJ

Get Hooked!

Yes, I was SFJ .. I know that generator power isn't the best. But if it fried it, perfect ... I've wanted to build a new one for a bit (I'm still running the old 600mhz Athlon system I built a couple of years back) , and I'd then have the perfct excuse!

Don't tell Fishgal about my devious plan that didn't pan out

A good word of caution to those that have some equipment that they currently care a little more about! Thanks!

WAZ015-016-151600-
CNTL COAST-NORTH COAST-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF.OCEAN SHORES.NEAH BAY.
FORKS & ABERDEEN
415 AM PST SAT MAR 15 2003

THE HIGH WIND WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE NO. & CNTL
WA COAST.

WINDS ALONG THE COAST THIS MORNING ARE NOT EXPECTED TO REACH HIGH
WIND CRITERIA OF SUSTAINED 40 MILES AN HOUR. THE WEATHER SYSTEM THAT
HAD THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE DAMAGING WINDS ALONG THE COAST THIS
MORNING WILL MOVE BY THE AREA A LITTLE FURTHER TO THE WEST. WINDY
CONDITIONS ARE STILL FORECAST FOR THE COAST THIS MORNING.


At least this one missed us!!! We'll be fishing in a couple days by the look of the forecast!! WOOHOO!!!!!

I've ran my puters off of my generator many times with no problems. About once a year someone hits a pole along the main road and takes the power out. Along with the usual storms, the generator comes in handy. I normaly use dsl but I have a backup dialup account. If the phone still works I'm in business. I plug a multi outlet, heavy duty surge protector into the generator, switch my tv from satellite to antenna, light up the coleman lamp and I'm stylin'.