Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/363419
ByFeliciaFonseca The Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. One of the main reservoirs in the vast Colorado River water system that is struggling to serve the booming South- west will get more water this year, but that won't be enough to pull Lake Mead back from near-record lows. The water elevation in the reservoir behind Hoover Dam has alarmed water managers, farmers and cit- ies throughout the region. They depend on it for some of their water supply amid a grueling drought. Shortages aren't ex- pected in the upcoming wa- ter year, but they are for the 2016 year. The U.S. Bureau of Recla- mation announced Wednes- day that it will release 10 percent more water from Lake Powell near the Ari- zona-Utah border into Lake Mead than it did the past year, thanks to near-normal runoff. The runoff from the Up- per Colorado River basin was far less the two previ- ous years. Federal officials say they will send 8.23 million acre feet to Lake Mead, up from 7.48 million. An acre foot is about 325,850 gallons, or enough to cover a football field with a foot of water. Despite the additional water, Lake Mead will re- main near record lows. That's because more wa- ter will be delivered to cit- ies, farms, American In- dian communities and Mex- ico than Lake Mead will get from Lake Powell. Lake Mead already is at its lowest point since Hoover Dam was completed and the lake was first filled in the 1930s. The Bureau of Reclama- tion has projected Lake Mead will be at 1,083 feet in January, ensuring all wa- ter deliveries. It is expected to fall to 1,075 for January 2016, triggering water cuts to Arizona and Nevada. While water authorities say they've been saving wa- ter for potential dry days, some are already preparing for cuts. Federal officials and wa- ter administrators in metro areas such as Las Vegas and Phoenix say they're com- mitted to finding new ways to make every drop of river water count. DROUGHT WaterfromLakePowellheadedtostrugglingLakeMead By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press GRANTS PASS, ORE. Light rain and cooler tempera- tures Wednesday helped dampen explosive wild- fires in Northern Califor- nia and southwestern Ore- gon that were threatening more than 1,000 scattered rural homes. But the relief came only after some dicey mo- ments Tuesday afternoon when thunderstorms blew through with erratic winds that fanned flames. No homes were reported lost. In southwestern Oregon, fire spokesman Don Hick- man said a thunderstorm blowing over the Rogue River Drive fire Tuesday af- ternoon near Shady Cove pushed it out of contain- ment lines. Eight helicop- ters lined up to dip water from the Rogue River one after the other, three air tankers dropped pink loads of fire retardant, and bull- dozers cut fire lines to pro- tect homes and head off the advancing flames. By Wednesday morning the rain and cool temper- atures had calmed down the fire, and none of the 130 homes and outbuild- ings was lost, the Oregon Department of Forestry re- ported. "They're probably doing the happy dance right now," said Hickman. In Northern California, two fires on the Klamath National Forest near Yreka grew by a total of 10 square miles Tuesday, but the changing weather Wednes- day slowed them down. "The fuels have been so dry and the drought so persistent, conditions are unprecedented from any- thing we have ever seen," fire spokeswoman Kerry Greene said. Fires were growing faster than fire behavior models were pre- dicting. The Whites fire grew to 38 square miles and contin- ued to threaten 750 homes scattered up and down the Salmon River, particularly near the community of Saw- yer's Bar. Crews were sta- tioned around homes to protect them, Greene said. The Beaver fire grew to 50 square miles, but most of the growth was from firefighters intentionally burning to strengthen fire lines. Some homes along the Klamath River west of In- terstate 5 were under evac- uation, but Highway 96 was open. Lightning strikes ignited 20 small fires near Happy Camp, a small logging and gold mining town on the Klamath River. They grew to a total of 400 acres. Meanwhile, thunder- storms moved across the Cascade Range into cen- tral Oregon and eastern Washington. Forecast- ers reported the threat of lightning would diminish over the next three days and moister air would re- duce the potential for big new fires. In Washington, the Okanogan County sher- iff's office said two men were arrested for investi- gation of arson for setting back burns in an unauthor- ized attempt to stop the ad- vance of wildfires. Larry D. Smith, 63, and Keith V. Strickland, 60, both of Twisp, were jailed. In northern Idaho, evac- uation orders went out to residents and campers along the Clearwater and Selway rivers due to a wild- fire burning in timber. THUNDERSTORMS Light rain helps fight some Northwest fires GARYWIEPERT—THERECORDSEARCHLIGHT Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, second from le , tours the Swasey Recreation Area in Redding on Tuesday. She toured fire areas and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Washington 83/62 New York 78/62 Miami 92/78 Atlanta 86/65 Detroit 71/48 Houston 93/74 Chicago 75/54 Minneapolis 82/67 Kansas City 83/65 El Paso 90/72 Denver 86/61 Billings 86/63 Los Angeles 82/64 San Francisco 73/59 Seattle 76/61 AIRQUALITYFORECAST Whatitmeans:0-50:Good; 51-100:Moderate; 101-150:Unhealthyforsensitivepeople; 151+:Unhealthyforall. Source: Airnow.gov City Today'sairquality City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W CALIFORNIA CITIES National and world forecast s-sunny,pc-partly cloudy,c-cloudy,sh-showers,t-thunderstorms,r-rain,sf-snow flurries,sn-snow,i-ice City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Summary National Extremes World Extremes North and South America Asia, Australia Africa CarsonCity Hawthorne Reno Herlong Lovelock Sacramento Yuba City Napa Ukiah Chico Corning Lakeview Alturas Susanville Redding Red Bluff Laytonville Fort Bragg Point Arena Eureka Redway Mount Shasta Yreka Crescent City Ashland Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows. Shown are today's noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. ALMANAC Precipitation Temperatures ALLERGY REPORT Pollenlevels Source: National Allergy Bureau TODAY'S UV INDEX (The higher the number, the faster skin damage will occur.) Extreme Very high High Moderate Low SUN SETTINGS, MOON PHASES Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Hoursofsunlight River Levels SacramentoRiver Flood 7a.m. 24-hr Stage yest. chg. Lake Levels Elevation Yesterday Storage (acre-feet) Percent Capacity Q: A: FRIDAY 94° 63° SATURDAY 96° 63° Plenty of sunshine Sunshine SUNDAY 98° 63° Plenty of sunshine MONDAY 97° 64° A full da y of sunshine TODAY 91° 62° Partly sunny. Mainly clear tonight. High ....................................................................... 82° Low ........................................................................ 64° Normal high ......................................................... 96° Normal low ........................................................... 63° Record high ........................................... 112° in 2012 Record low .............................................. 50° in 1995 Humidity noon today ........................................ 35% 24 hours through 2 p.m. yesterday ................. 0.00" Month to date ................................................... 0.10" Normal month to date ..................................... 0.05" Season to date .................................................. 0.11" Normal season to date .................................... 0.16" Red Bluff through 2 p.m. yesterday Chico .................................................................. Good Napa ........................................................... Moderate Red Bluff .............................................. Not available Redding ............................................... Not available Yuba City ............................................. Not available Allergy, dust and dander today: Beneficial Grass ............. Moderate Mold .........................Low Trees ....................... Low Weeds ..................... Low 7 Highest at 12 p.m. Today 6:19 a.m. 8:08 p.m. 10:34 p.m. 11:03 a.m. Friday 6:20 a.m. 8:06 p.m. 11:12 p.m. 12:10 p.m. 13 hr., 49 min. Aug17 Last Aug25 New First Sep2 Full Sep8 aboveBendBridge......................27 ...........3.10 ....... -0.10 atHamiltonCity.........................148 ......129.40 ....... -0.10 atOrdFerry................................114 ........97.10 ....... -0.10 atRedBluffDiversionDam.......253 ......238.90 ....... -0.10 atTehamaBridge ......................213 ......201.40 ....... -0.20 atVinaWoodsonBridge............183 ......167.40 ....... -0.10 BlackButte ....................449.20..............51,630 .....35.9% LakeOroville..................690.62.........1,184,454 .....31.7% LakeShasta ...................923.56.........1,474,078 .....32.4% LakeTrinity..................2230.73............798,955 .....30.2% Whiskeytown...............1208.42............236,052 .....97.9% Weather Trivia ™ What was the hottest temperature ever reported in Canada? 113 F at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan. Today Friday Anaheim 86/63/pc 87/62/pc Bakersfield 95/70/s 97/71/s Chula Vista 80/65/pc 82/66/pc Crescent City 61/52/pc 59/51/pc Death Valley 110/80/s 111/78/s Eureka 66/53/pc 65/53/pc Fremont 75/57/s 77/57/s Fresno 97/68/s 98/68/s Glendale 87/62/pc 89/62/pc Huntington Beach 77/64/pc 78/64/pc Irvine 78/64/pc 79/64/pc Lake Tahoe 76/42/s 78/42/s Long Beach 81/64/pc 82/64/pc Los Angeles 82/64/pc 83/64/pc Mammoth Mountain 79/43/s 82/45/s Modesto 89/61/s 92/62/s Monterey 69/56/pc 69/54/pc Moreno Valley 92/61/s 93/62/s Napa 75/53/s 77/53/s Needles 102/83/s 106/82/s Oakland 72/59/pc 73/58/pc Oxnard 73/60/pc 71/59/pc Redding 91/61/pc 93/63/s Riverside 93/61/pc 94/62/s Sacramento 87/57/s 89/58/s San Bernardino 93/61/pc 94/62/s San Diego 77/68/pc 78/69/pc San Francisco 73/59/pc 73/58/pc San Jose 77/57/s 78/56/s San Luis Obispo 77/57/pc 77/56/pc Santa Ana 81/68/pc 81/68/pc Santa Barbara 74/60/pc 73/59/pc Santa Clarita 90/60/s 92/61/s Stockton 88/58/s 91/59/s Ventura 74/60/pc 73/59/pc Yosemite Valley 88/55/s 91/55/s Today Friday Albuquerque 84/65/t 89/65/pc Atlanta 86/65/s 89/67/pc Baltimore 80/54/pc 78/55/s Boston 77/60/pc 75/61/pc Buffalo 65/55/pc 71/56/s Chicago 75/54/s 80/67/pc Cincinnati 80/53/pc 79/58/pc Dallas 95/74/s 99/78/s Denver 86/61/t 87/61/pc Detroit 71/48/s 76/59/pc El Paso 90/72/s 91/72/pc Fargo 86/66/pc 86/65/pc Honolulu 90/75/s 89/77/pc Houston 93/74/s 95/77/s Indianapolis 78/52/s 77/62/pc Kansas City 83/65/s 88/71/pc Las Vegas 98/75/s 100/75/s Louisville 85/62/s 84/65/pc Miami 92/78/t 92/78/t Minneapolis 82/67/s 83/68/pc New Orleans 92/75/t 93/76/pc New York City 78/62/pc 77/64/pc Oklahoma City 94/70/s 95/74/pc Dry air will finally return to portions of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic today as a cold front pulls away. A stray shower or two may dampen folks across New England with perhaps heavier periods of rain in Maine. However, the threat for widespread flooding will come to an end. Cool and pleasant air will also filter in across the region and will be found across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley as well. Meanwhile, strong thunderstorms will threaten the interior Northwest, and flooding downpours will target Wyoming and central Colorado. High ............................ 103° in Victoria, TX Low ............... 34° in Bodie State Park, CA High .................. 118° in Ali-Algharbi, Iraq Low ...... 8° in Summit Station, Greenland Bogota 64/48/t 65/48/c Buenos Aires 62/48/s 65/49/pc Caracas 88/75/t 88/76/t Ensenada 83/65/pc 83/65/pc Mexico City 70/54/t 73/54/t Montreal 63/54/sh 64/55/c Rio de Janeiro 67/64/r 72/66/pc Tijuana 79/65/pc 82/66/pc Toronto 66/53/pc 71/58/s Vancouver 74/62/pc 72/60/c Orlando 91/75/t 88/74/t Philadelphia 78/60/pc 77/61/s Phoenix 100/83/pc 102/83/pc Pittsburgh 72/49/pc 72/49/s Portland, ME 74/55/c 73/55/c Portland, OR 77/63/sh 80/62/pc St. Louis 86/66/s 88/72/pc Salt Lake City 87/66/pc 88/64/pc Seattle 76/61/sh 78/59/c Tucson 94/75/pc 96/74/pc Washington, DC 83/62/pc 81/63/s Cairo 98/76/s 98/76/s Casablanca 84/64/s 86/68/s Johannesburg 73/48/s 73/45/c Kinshasa 89/72/s 87/71/pc Lagos 81/72/sh 82/73/pc Nairobi 75/58/c 76/58/pc Tripoli 105/78/s 99/77/s Baghdad 115/86/s 116/88/s Beijing 86/67/s 89/69/t Hong Kong 90/82/t 91/83/t Jerusalem 87/67/s 85/65/s Kabul 97/60/s 91/57/s Manila 90/77/s 91/77/pc Melbourne 56/39/c 61/41/s New Delhi 94/79/pc 92/77/pc Seoul 79/69/r 85/67/pc Singapore 83/77/t 85/77/t Sydney 63/47/pc 64/48/pc Tehran 97/78/s 91/75/s Tokyo 88/79/t 89/78/t Amsterdam 68/56/sh 67/57/sh Athens 98/75/s 98/77/s Belgrade 93/62/s 78/61/pc Berlin 72/56/pc 70/55/sh Budapest 70/56/pc 76/57/pc Dublin 63/48/pc 63/50/pc London 70/52/sh 70/53/pc Madrid 87/59/s 89/59/s Moscow 79/65/pc 75/54/pc Paris 70/55/sh 69/53/pc Rome 83/64/pc 82/64/s Stockholm 73/55/pc 72/55/pc Vienna 70/58/pc 73/56/pc Zurich 67/50/sh 63/49/r 82/47 90/57 86/55 84/52 86/50 87/57 90/58 75/53 90/55 88/62 91/62 75/43 79/45 82/49 91/61 91/62 84/52 65/53 65/54 66/53 85/53 79/49 83/55 61/52 81/54 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2014 235SMainSt.,RedBluff 530 527-1657 www.thefurnituredepot.net HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY 9:00-6:00 SATURDAY 9:00-5:00 • SUNDAY 11:00-5:00 Furniture DEPOT 1/2 off SelectMerchandisethroughoutthestore Were making room for NEW merchandise Don't Miss Our | WEATHER | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2014 8 B