With the warmer weather (finally!) water levels and flow rates have started to rise. They're average for this time of year.

Cedar/Kiteen Pillow
The Cedar/Kiteen Gauge is on a mountain that borders the Nass Area (half of the hillside flowing to the Kiteen River (Nass River valley) and half toward the Cedar River (Skeena River Valley).  It is a “low” elevation snow gauge and it is currently at record levels for this time of year.  It may end up peaking at a record level for the life of the gauge as well.

Because the gauge has not been in existence for a terribly long time this is not necessarily worrisome. However the current peak of the guage was set in 2007 when the spring runoff flooded the Nisga’a Highway and isolated two villages.  With that amount of snow there exists at least the chance of 2007 level runoff.

Shedin Creek Pillow
This gauge is a “high” elevation gauge on a mountain that straddles the Nass and Skeena drainages north of Damdochax.  While it is not at record levels it is at “higher than average” levels (again it is important to remember the short time the gauge has been in existence).  This gauge is important as it gives us an indication of snow levels further up the watershed.  If snowfall were to increase in this area the gauge could still reach peak recorded levels.

Current Water Levels

The red line is the water level. It has started to rise with our warm weather but does not pose any threat. The blue lines are the rate of water flow. The dotted line is the maximum flow recorded for the date. The dashed line is the average flow rate for the date. At the moment the flow rate is average for this time of year.