Your PUD
News Release
Lake Chelan runoff forecast drops
Chelan County PUD
News Release
3/7/2005
There will be enough runoff to refill Lake Chelan by July 1 and to meet power needs for Chelan County PUD customers, despite increasingly lower snowpack readings in the mountains above the lake.
The March 1 forecast for runoff into the lake from April through July is 47 percent of normal, second only to the record low year of 1977, when it was 46 percent of average. However, heavy rain last fall, record low precipitation and warm February temperatures resulted in a March 1 lake level nearly 6 feet higher than normal.
The extra water in the lake means more power can be generated by the two units at the Lake Chelan Hydro Project between now and July 1, said Janet Jaspers, PUD power resource coordinator. The actual generation will be equivalent to a year with 64-percent average runoff. Despite the extra water in the lake, generation will be turned off at night through June to ensure the lake refills.
The March 1 Lake Chelan basin runoff forecast is for April 1-July 31. The forecast is based on precipitation since October 2004 and snowpack readings at four sites. Records have been kept since 1928.
Columbia River runoff forecasts are closer to normal for April-July. The Northwest River Forecast Center’s Feb. 25 runoff forecast calls for 80 percent of average flows at Grand Coulee through July. Chelan County PUD also operates two large hydroelectric dams on the Columbia: Rocky Reach and Rock Island dams.
Forecasts for other local area river basins are also well below normal. The Okanogan River forecast is for 46 percent of the normal April - September runoff, and the Wenatchee River is forecast for 52 percent of normal for April – September.
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For more information contact Janet Jaspers, PUD power resource coordinator, at 661.4548.
Kimberlee Craig
Public Information Officer
661.4320
679.6958, cell
kimc@chelanpud.org