Cauldron Linn; about 22 miles upstream from Shoshone Falls. Running at 20,000+cfs.
Water, the Hub of Life. Water is its mater and matrix, mother and medium. Water is the most extraordinary substance! Practically all its properties are anomalous, which enabled life to use it as building material for its machinery. Life is water dancing to the tune of solids.
– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
After years of below average snow and moisture in most parts of the west, Idaho included, this 2016-17 winter has been a show stopper. The average yearly snowfall for Boise is 19.2 inches. By mid January of 2017, Boise had already reached 29.2 inches of snowfall.
Mountain regions that feed into the Snake River have recorded well above normal moisture. The Idaho Water Resources Department tracks Snow Water Equivalencies (SWI)—that is the amount of water contained within the snow pack. This year, with the exception of Owyhee County, southern Idaho has recorded from 114 – 172% of normal SWI. The runoff, combined with an abnormally wet spring so far, is quickly filling long-empty reservoirs and canal ditches. Rivers are full, creeping into their flood zones.
Twin, er, Single Falls on steroids
The average volume for Shoshone Falls on the Snake River is 3,200 cubic feet per second (CFS). The amount of water rushing over Shoshone Falls is regulated by Idaho Power’s upstream dam on Twin Falls,which now looks like a rather anemic Single Falls. In the driest of years, Idaho Power is mandated to allow at least 300 CFS to spill over iconic Shoshone Falls, which boasts a 212-foot-drop and a width of 900 feet, making it an important tourist attraction for southern Idaho.
On April 3rd, Shoshone Falls was running at almost 14,000 CFS.
Shoshone Falls at 13,800 CFS
By 2025, at least 3.5 billion people – about half the world’s populations – will live in areas without enough water for agriculture, industry, and human needs… Worldwide, water quality conditions appear to have degraded in almost all regions with intensive agriculture and in large urban and industrial areas.
– World Resources Institute, October 2000
Quotations assembled by: http://www.gardendigest.com/water.htm
Oh my! It must be wonderfull to see the water tables replenished, and then sobering to witness how fast it can go from little water to ‘Ok, Rain gods, that’s enough for now.’
The video of SlomoCauldron is amazing.. wow wow wow…
Squeezed between Peru and Colombia, I am counting blessings daily that so far all’s ok in my areas of the Briar Patch.
in contrast, that Indian hotwave right now is scary… the canary in the world cage!
Beautiful photos!
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It is wonderful to see water. But on the other hand short-sighted and poorly read leaders use all that moisture to bolster their claim that climate change is a hoax.
Hope things continue to be reasonable in your little briar patch. You’ve all suffered enough.
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thanks! yes, we first had the dengue/chikungunya epidemic.. the next year the earthquake… they have a long way to go regarding recovery from the quake. will see next week how bad the rainy season has been there. some areas lower down the province havee had some intense flooding, as has ‘babahoyo’ at the foot of the andes… whew… seems everyone’s being kicked one way or another.
just read this; i especially appreciated the quote:
“…I’ve been talking with the people in charge of Civil Defense in Ecuador who are closely monitoring the situation. They fear that this effect, El Niño or not, is set to last for a while yet and could become a global phenomenon that affects everyone.”
http://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/04/05/colombia-peru-disasters-show-growing-risk-‘coastal-el-niño’
This is also disturbing re: India’s climate..
robertscribbler.com/2017/04/05/the-indian-hot-season-began-two-months-early-this-year
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Thanks for sharing those links. It is heartbreaking that poor people are almost always the ones most affected by these disasters. They get caught up in economic catch-22s, with no hope of protecting themselves. But in India, I don’t know how any human beings can withstand the extreme heat that they must endure.I believe Australia is also suffering from a disastrously hot and dry season.
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our world has some serious problems, and i think more people are awakening… but can we fix what we’ve broken?
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I suspect (and selfishly hope) that the answer to that question lies beyond my future.
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What an enlightening, beautiful post. Love the slow motion videos … a stunning amount of water flowing over the falls.
Isn’t it sad that #45 doesn’t get climate change and won’t live long enough to be proven wrong.
Nova Scotia is due to be wetter in the future.
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Nova Scotia is already pretty wet, isn’t it? A friend hopes that #45 will die of a stroke just prior to one of his early am tweet fests. That sounds horrible. But I can’t disagree with said friend. Every day is another freak show with him at the roiling helm. Thank you, my dear Sybil, for using such honorable words to describe my post. To be honest, just walking beside the Cauldron Linn falls and feeling the earth rumble beneath my feet purely terrorized me. This sissyfied, one-time, white-water kayaker stared into the roiling hell and nearly passed out. And later I found a YouTube video of kayakers shooting those rapids 10 days earlier. I get weak-kneed just thinking about it!
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Linda, how blessed you were to witness that magnificent rainbow on your journey to Shoshone Falls. Thx for this enlightening post.
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Thanks, Doreen. Actually, anyone who arrives there on a sunny day gets the bonus of a rainbow! 😉 Thanks for dropping by. I always love hearing from you.
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What an edifying, delightful post. Adore the moderate movement recordings … a dazzling measure of water streaming over the falls…
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Thank you, thank you Sariska! I greatly appreciate that you take the time to share your response to my post! Blessings to you.
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Lovely photos!..The video of SlomoCauldron is astonishing.. wow amazing…
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Oh thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I am not very experienced with vids!
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Would it be OK if I cross-posted this article to WriterBeat.com1? I’ll be sure to give you complete credit as the author. There is no fee, I’m simply trying to add more content diversity for our community and I liked what you wrote. If “OK” please respond via email.
Autumn
AutumnCote@WriterBeat.com
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Oh thank you Autumn. First of all, I love how you approached this query. But secondly, after a quick glance at your site, I would be honored to share space there! Thank you!
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