GRCA plays waiting game; Grand River

[Spiel]

GRCA plays waiting game

 

Ray Martin / cambridgetimes.ca

Mar 13, 2008

 

 

 

Staff at the Grand River Conservation Authority are keeping an eye on the weather and their fingers crossed as a result of the recent record snowfalls.

 

"All we can do is wait," said Dave Schultz, GRCA communications co-ordinator.

 

Yesterday, authority staff completed an intermediate snow survey that found 16.7 inches of snow on the ground in Cambridge and it has 4.7 inches of water.

 

Last year, by comparison there was just 1.7 inches of snow on the ground on March 15.

 

"That's four times as much as the long-term average," Schultz said.

 

In other parts of the watershed, the water content of the snow is twice the long-term average.

 

"At Corbetton, where we take measurements for the watershed north of the Shand Dam, which takes in Central Wellington and Dufferin counties, the water content is 6.8 inches and last year it was 3.4 inches," he said.

 

This week temperatures are expected to rise above freezing during the day, but Schultz said authority staff aren't overly concerned.

 

"We will have warm temperatures during the day, but things will cool off overnight," he said. "And there is no warming spell in the forecast now, but that can change."

 

The authority's water resources staff also say there is capacity within the snow to absorb some rain.

 

"People will see the snow shrink over the next few days and there will be some melting on the pavement, but that's not a big concern for us," Schultz said.

 

However, should temperatures rise high enough, the melting could cause enough runoff to swell water levels in streams and ditches.

 

"We'd like parents to keep this in mind and keep their children away from the water," Schultz said.

 

Current conditions are not unlike those that led to the 1974 flood. The ground beneath the snow is frozen solid and it cannot absorb melting snow.

 

"It would be just like pavement," Schultz explained. "Everything would run off it and into the river."

 

Ideally, GRCA officials are hoping for warm days and cold nights this spring, which would produce a gradual snow melt and controlled runoff.

 

What has GRCA officials concerned is that this year, for the first time in memory, there has been widespread snowfalls across the watershed instead of the concentrations in the traditional snowbelt areas.