Winter Storm Conditions Leading to Excessive Runoff above California’s Oroville Dam during January and February 2017

Details

• Journal Title:
  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
• Personal Author:
  White, Allen B. ; Moore, Benjamin J. ; Gottas, Daniel J. ; Neiman, Paul J.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; ESRL (Earth System Research Laboratory) ; PSL (Physical Sciences Laboratory)
• Description:
  During winter 2016/17, California experienced numerous heavy precipitation events linked to land-falling atmospheric rivers (ARs) that filled reservoirs and ended a severe, multiyear drought. These events also caused floods, mudslides, and debris flows, resulting in major socioeconomic disruptions. During 2–11 February 2017, persistent heavy precipitation in the northern Sierra Nevada culminated in a rapid increase in the water level on Lake Oroville, necessitating the activation of an emergency spillway for the first time since the Oroville Dam was installed and forcing the evacuation of 188,000 people. The precipitation, which mostly fell as rain due to elevated freezing levels, was focused on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in connection with orographic forcing linked to two successive ARs. Heavy rain fell on saturated soils and a snowpack produced by antecedent storms and thereby resulted in excessive runoff into Lake Oroville that led to a damaged spillway and complicated reservoir operations.
• Source:
  Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. (2019) 100 (1): 55–70.
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0091.1
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California
• Rights Information:
  CC BY
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/25078/noaa_25078_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 10.43 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) ; NOAA Cooperative Institutes
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1f5b200690a47748c4f238d936973680884f4fd9aab682069ad77133a08727b4609f0787dbd2e21764543a04f6ce841c20d31b27c4e6e9db4b03377f9ad1cbcf