Gauges Frozen?

[rugger]

Do we think the gauges have frozen, or power out whereever signal is sent? Gauges are all 9-10 hrs old

[MaxTexan]

Something strange is going on the gages for Sugar and Jack Creek. Quarter inch of rain should not make flows like those being reported. Also the gage on the Petite Jean is not increasing very fast.

[Cowper]

Gages have now updated, so that problem has resolved itself. My guess? USGS let somebody have Christmas day off (LAZY GOV'MT WORKERS!) and as a result nobody was there to reset/reboot a server when something minor went wrong. Or, like you said, power was out somewhere in the system, preventing the routine updates.

Jacks and Sugar don't really have a gage, so on the OWP was set up to "guess" floatability based on referencing to the gage on nearby Dutch Creek at Waltreak. Upper Shoal, Shoal, and Gutter Rock do the same thing. So when this one gage went haywire, all five showed as above flood stage on the OWP.

If you look at the timeline, the gage started spiking at 9:30 PM, a time when temperatures were dropping to below freezing. Some of the gages use "bubbler tubes" that pump air into a tube, and then based on how much pressure it takes to keep the air flowing, they know how far underwater the end of the tube is. If freezing water creates additional back pressure on the tube, then the gage "thinks" the end of the tube is in very deep water and registers a false high number, sometimes even goes "off scale" on the high end. So yes, the short answer is, that gage "froze up".

[MaxTexan]

I was lazy in my posting and did not want to look at the name of the gage that the page uses for Jack and Sugar Creek.

The best indicator for those creeks is the visual gauges painted to the bridge above Jack Creek Rec Area. But a careful examination of the gages on both Dutch Creek and the Petit Jean will give a close approximation.