Low flow

Waders

The local paper had a headline Friday that read “Area rivers at historic low flows.”

Though our rainfall last winter was almost normal rainfall the snowfall in our mountains was pitifully meager – 7 percent of average. And that snowpack feeds the regional rivers.

River flows are low and warm and mortality rates are high for our spawning salmon. Two Olympic Peninsula rivers, the Elwah and Calawah, were measured at their lowest flow rate for the month of June in 117 years. All of our rivers are now flowing at rates more typical of late summer or early autumn.

Autumn on the bridge

Autumn moves fast here. Many of the trees that show early fall colors have begun to lose leaves just as some of the reds and golds have begun to pop. Yesterday at Railroad Bridge Park, above, people had bouquets of huge golden and brown leaves from big leaf maples, easily a full foot across. This area has plenty of evergreens, too, so it’s never entirely bare and grey.

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