High Flows from Nor’Easter

Did you know that from your desk you can monitor the effect of the nor’easter on rivers and streams? The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) WaterWatch Web site can show you what’s happening to streams and show you the places most affected by heavy rains from this storm.

From the website http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/, click on your state to select a gaging station on a local stream. Most pages show at what water level rivers will overflow their banks. You can produce customized graphs and tables showing stream level for the past 1-31 days.

The USGS operates a network of more than 7,000 stream gages throughout the country and provides this real-time information to the National Weather Service where it is used for flood forecasting and to notify emergency managers. Field personnel collect data, or the gages relay it through telephones or satellites to offices where it is processed automatically in near real time. In many cases, the data are available online within minutes.

For more information on USGS flood-related activities, please see: http://water.usgs.gov/osw/