NWRFC Water Supply Forecast

Monthly Briefing

Water is vital resource that affects many aspects of our lives, the health of our environment and the nation's economy. We use water directly in our households and industries, or indirectly through the products and services that we use, like irrigated crops, hydroelectric power, and river transportation. In addition to our needs sufficient water is needed to sustain a healthy aquatic ecosystem. As the population of the Pacific Northwest continues to grow water resources are becoming more fully utilized, making the region more vulnerable to water shortages during periods of abnormally dry weather. On the other end of the spectrum an excessively large snow pack can cause flooding during the spring melt. Forecasts of the amount of water expected to runoff from a basin provide resource managers and water users time to adjust their operations to better fit the expected runoff.

The NWRFC produces water supply forecasts for much of the Pacific Northwest and has received increasing interest in these products. To better meet the needs of our users, the NWRFC is conducting monthly water supply briefings during this water year. The briefings will present web pages that display current basin precipitation, snow and runoff conditions, as well as the latest climatological outlooks and water supply forecasts. There will be time available for questions following the presentation.

Water supply briefings are held on the working day immediately following the release of the monthly “Final” forecast. Please refer to the schedule for forecast release dates. The briefings are composed of two parts, a telephone conference call and a web-based presentation. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-888-790-1524 a few minutes prior to the 10:00 am start of the briefing and entering the access code of 22587. To view the web-based presentation, you will need to sign up prior to the briefing. You will need to re-register for each meeting. Click on REGISTER to sign up for the briefing. For those of you who are unable to view the web-based presentation on your computer, you can follow the presentation by clicking the web links listed below.

Briefing Date: May 8, 2008

Briefing Time: 10:00am Pacific Time

Briefing Part 1: Telephone Conference Call No.: 1-888-790-1524 Pass code: 22587

Briefing Part 2: Web-base Presentation Sign-up: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/241792563

Re-registration is required for each briefing.

WATER SUPPLY PRESENTATION WEB LINKS

Slide 1: Westwide WS Fcst Map

Slide 2: Current Monthly Precipitation

Slide 3: Seasonal Precipitation

Slide 4: Previous Month's Seasonal Precipitation

Slide 5: Monthly Temp Departure

Slide 6: Current Snow Conditions

Slide 7: FLKQ2 SWE

Slide 8: LVRM8 SWE

Slide 9: MOSO3 SWE

Slide 10: Current Runoff Conditions

Slide 11: CPC 30 Outlook

Slide 12: CPC 90 Day Outlook

Slide 13: Forecast Assumptions

Slide 14: GCDW1 Westwide Obs/Fcst Plot

Slide 15: GCDW1 Fcst Table

Slide 16: LGDW1 Westwide Obs/Fcst Plot

Slide 17: LGDW1 Fcst Table

Slide 18: TDAO3 Westwide Obs/Fcst Plot

Slide 19: TDAO3 Fcst Table

Slide 20: Peak Flow

Slide 21: NWRFC Water Supply Web Page