2019 Water Year Report
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2019 Water Year Report Summary of Thurston County Precipitation, Groundwater, Stream and Lake Data from October 2018 to September 2019 Thurston County Community Planning and Economic Development Water Planning February 2020 Comments, Questions, or Errors Please Contact Nathaniel Kale – Water Resource Specialist 2 [email protected] | (360) 786-5549 Acknowledgements The following people contributed to this report: Nathaniel Kale – Water Resource Specialist 2 – Report author, data collection and processing Howard Hama – Water Resource Specialist 2 – Collection and processing of field data, proofreading Mark Biever – Water Resource Specialist 3 – Monitoring program supervisor, proofreading Kevin Hansen – Hydrogeologist – Data analysis, proofreading Comments, Questions, or Errors Please Contact Nathaniel Kale – Water Resource Specialist 2 [email protected] | (360) 786-5549 SUMMARY REPORT and ANALYSIS for WATER YEAR 2019: including Atmospheric, Streamflow, Groundwater and Lake Level Data – Thurston County Water Planning Table of Contents Monitoring Stations and their Basin Codes ............................................................................................................... iv Executive Summary- Water Year 2019 .......................................................................................................................5 Activities .................................................................................................................................................................5 Year In Review ........................................................................................................................................................5 Cold, then Normal ..............................................................................................................................................5 Very Dry ..............................................................................................................................................................6 Background and Introduction .....................................................................................................................................7 General ...................................................................................................................................................................7 Chehalis Basin Telemetry Project .................................................................................................................... 10 Weather and Atmospheric Monitoring ................................................................................................................... 11 Stations and Equipment ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Temperature ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Warm January, Colder March, Normal Remainder of Year ............................................................................. 12 Precipitation ........................................................................................................................................................ 16 Drought Perception and Reality ...................................................................................................................... 19 Trends .............................................................................................................................................................. 19 Atmospheric Rivers.......................................................................................................................................... 23 Streamflow .............................................................................................................................................................. 25 General ................................................................................................................................................................ 25 Inter-Local Monitoring Agreement Streams ....................................................................................................... 26 Water Year 2019 Observations of Streamflow .................................................................................................... 27 Rivers ................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Water Temperature ............................................................................................................................................. 33 Trends .............................................................................................................................................................. 33 Standards ......................................................................................................................................................... 36 Groundwater ........................................................................................................................................................... 39 General ................................................................................................................................................................ 39 Groundwater Levels for the 2019 Water Year (Salmon Creek Basin) ................................................................. 39 Groundwater Levels for the 2019 Water Year (Scatter Creek Basin) .................................................................. 43 Groundwater Levels for the 2018 Water Year (Other Basins)............................................................................. 44 Lakes – St. Clair, Long, Black, and Hicks................................................................................................................... 46 General ................................................................................................................................................................ 46 Lake St. Clair ........................................................................................................................................................ 46 Long Lake ............................................................................................................................................................. 47 Thurston County Water Planning Annual Report toc i Water Year 2019 SUMMARY REPORT and ANALYSIS for WATER YEAR 2019: including Atmospheric, Streamflow, Groundwater and Lake Level Data – Thurston County Water Planning Black Lake ............................................................................................................................................................ 48 Hicks Lake ............................................................................................................................................................ 49 Summary of Water Year 2019 ................................................................................................................................. 51 Closing ................................................................................................................................................................. 51 Appendices of Raw Data Appendix A – Precipitation Appendix B – Air Temperature Appendix C – Stream Discharge and Stage Appendix D – Stream Temperature Appendix E – Groundwater Appendix F – Lake Level List of Figures Figure 1: Streams, Lakes, and Weather Monitoring ...................................................................................................8 Figure 2 : Groundwater (Wells) ..................................................................................................................................9 Figure 3: Mean Temperatures at Olympia Airport .................................................................................................. 13 Figure 4: Frost Days at Olympia Airport .................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 5: Map of Mean Temperatures .................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 6: Air Temperatures at Select Weather Stations .......................................................................................... 16 Figure 7: Cumulative Precipitation at Select Weather Stations .............................................................................. 18 Figure 8: Monthly Precipitation at Select Stations .................................................................................................. 19 Figure 9: Total Historical Precipitation at All Stations ............................................................................................. 20 Figure 10: Decomposed Monthly Rainfall at Olympia Airport ................................................................................ 21 Figure 11: Decomposed Monthly Rainfall at Olympia Airport, Long Trend ............................................................ 22 Figure 12: Maximum Daily and Weekly Rainfall by Water Year .............................................................................. 23 Figure 13: All GEM and ILMA Stream Monitoring Sites ..........................................................................................