Upper Feather River Watershed

Analyzing the Impact of Climate Change on Monthly River Flows in California's Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade Mountain Ranges

The impact of climate change on monthly river flows in California's Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Mountain Ranges and its potential to impact hydroelectric production was analyzed to determine changes that have taken place in two successive 35-year periods during the past 70 years. March flows were larger for the more recent 35-year period for all of the flow points analyzed in the Sierra and southern Cascades including two subbasins on the upper North Fork Feather River where rain shadowed climate change impact has significantly reduced both snowmelt and water year runoff in the more recent 35-year period.

For PG&E, a large investor owned California gas and electric utility that manages its reservoirs to fill in late spring and early summer to meet its summer and fall hydroelectric needs for peaking power, the combination of a decline in the April 1 snowpack (Freeman, 2010), filling mountain reservoirs from snowmelt earlier in the year, and an increasing dependence on rainfall for filling is anticipated to eventually lead to increased likelihood for spill from PG&E's relatively small mountain reservoirs.

2015-08-21

Gary J. Freeman

Power Generation Department, Pacific Gas &Electric Co., Mail Code N13A, P.O. Box 770000, San Francisco, CA
94177, GJF2@pge.com

Adaptive Management, Administrative boundaries

Artwork

deercreekgisWebsite

Send a message the owner of this resource