NOAA Water Gauges
by Louis Aulbach
For a number of years, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has provided a web site that has graphically displayed the river flows for Texas. Recently the web site has been redesigned. The new web page now reports only the gauge height for the gauges on the rivers in Texas, while the previous webpage reported both the gauge height and the cfs (cubic feet per second) of the river.
For paddling purposes, the measure of the river's cfs is more informative to me for the river conditions. Why the NWS (National Weather Service) has decided to drop the cfs readings from their new river forecast is unknown. However, the NWS does offer a survey for feedback on the new webpage. If you, like me, feel that they should report both the gauge height AND the cfs for each reporting station, please respond to their feedback survey and express your opinion on that matter. Maybe the NWS will realize how important the cfs reading is to paddlers.
The current page is here: National Weather Service River Forecast Center, West Gulf RFC:
www.srh.noaa.gov/wgrfc/
The previous page is still available at this location: NWS RFC, West Gulf RFC
www.srh.noaa.gov/wgrfc/wgrfclegacy.php
The Feedback Survey is here:
www.nws.noaa.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=RFCDSM
This is the standard response that is being received by concerned paddlers who fill out the feedback survey:
Since the implementation of the Hydrology Decision Support Tool at WGRFC, there have been questions on how to access flow information that was previously available on the WGRFC legacy map. Below is information on how you can obtain this information within the new tool:
River Information Tab:
In the River Information Tab, you can access flow information by selecting the Hydrograph (Stage and Flow) Mouse Hover Options. This will display a hydrograph that displays stage (on the left axis) and flow (on the right access) for the point that you are hovering over.
Map:
If you would like more detailed information, you can also click on the point and go directly to the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) webpage for that site. The AHPS webpage for that location will display in a separate tab within your web browser. The AHPS page will have an option under the hydrograph called Tabular Data. By clicking on this Tabular Data link, another tab will open which will show the most current stage and flow readings available for the location.
The Hydrology Decision Support Development Team is working towards a solution to incorporate the legacy method of displaying stage and flow information within the mouse hover option. In the meantime, hopefully the above methods are adequate to access flow information. If these methods are not desirable, you can still access the legacy map which includes the capability of displaying stage and flow from the mouse-over display. The legacy map can be found at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/wgrfc/wgrfclegacy.php
If you have any questions on how to use the Hydrology Decision Support Tool, please direct your questions to sr-FWR.dsstool@noaa.gov.
Thank you for visiting the WGRFC webpage.
Regards,
Tracy
Tracy Clark
Hydrologic Services Program Manager
National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters
819 Taylor Street, Room 10E09
Fort Worth, TX 76102-6171
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| Louis Aulbach |