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Boulder Creek CZO assessing flood in Lower Gordon Gulch

Debris at stream gauge for Lower Gordon Gulch. Photo Nate Rock

18 Sep 2013

Image: Debris at stream gauge for Lower Gordon Gulch. Photo Nate Rock [Click image to enlarge]

BcCZOII member, Nate Rock, was able to access Lower Gordon Gulch via Golden Gate on 17 September 2013 only to find that the GGL gauge had been destroyed by the epic Boulder County floods.  Fortunately the ISCO did collect 24 samples every 2 hours beginning on 11 September and the time lapse camera (see below) was also still functioning. These measurements will provide useful information to the BcCZOII as they begin to piece together data collected during the storm.

The ISCO has a new battery and is sampling every 4 hours. Nate was also able to get a pretty good manual discharge measurement and marked the high flow points around the gauge.

Nate is planning to head to Upper Gordon Gulch in the morning (Sept 18th) and will update when he is back in Boulder.

Stream gauge at Lower Gordon Gulch. Photo Nate Rock

Debris at stream gauge for Lower Gordon Gulch. Photo Nate Rock

Time lapse annimation of the flood at Lower Gordon Gulch

Gordon Gulch is a relatively small basin (3.7617 km^2) in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado at an elevation of 2588 m. The CZO camera captures the influx of the water at the stream gauge and then cover and wash the gauge away (frames from Sept 9-17 2013).

Stream gauge at Lower Gordon Gulch. Photo Nate Rock

Debris at stream gauge for Lower Gordon Gulch. Photo Nate Rock


News Category:
RESEARCH | INFRASTRUCTURE


Photos

Boulder creek catastrophic flooding

September 12th 2013. Wettest day on record.

Prior to Wednesday, the single wettest day on record was July 31, 1919, when 4.80 inches of rain were recorded, according to Bob Henson, a science writer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. (Daily Camera POSTED:   09/12/2013 04:54:28 AM MDT)

Sept 17 pictures of Stream gauge at Lower Gordon Gulch added.

Sept 18 pictures of Stream gauge at Lower Gordon Gulch added.


People Involved

CZO

Discipline Tags and CZOs

All Disciplines
Hydrology

Boulder