Sadly the Army Corps seems to change these every year. I haven't figured out why, who can predict what a web page developer will think is cool. It changed in April of 2004 and again sometime late in 2007. I tried to access the pages in Oct 2009 and found they had changed yet again. Due to a post and email from Alan Darling I think I have it working again. See below for current Top Level and direct access URLs.
Start at the top level URL
for Army Corps flood control data sites of the Connecticut River Shed.
Near the top is a list of Topics, putting the mouse on the the
tab to the far left, 'Hydro Data', should give you a drop down list.
Select 'Real Time Data Map', the first entry in the list.
The DAMS of interest for
the upper sections of Ash and Otter brook are the SMD (Surry Mountain Dam)
and OBD (Otter Brook Dam) in the VT region.
With a little fumbling around I figured out the direct links below, but it might change again. If it does change again try going back to the top level.
My correlation is based on "Real Time Tabular Data" for the dam of interest. This has a column for
'inflow' which is the data of interest.
This seems to be a good predictor of the hand painted gage levels
although it may be derived
from the outflow and rate of change in pond level.
For the Upper Ash, go to
SMD
Note there is now also an on-line gage station available on the upper Ash
near Gilsum, GIL
icon on the image map. The old gage has been given
new life, at least temporarily. The CFS it reports seems slightly lower than
the SMD inflow which my correlations are based on, but time will tell and
USGS will probably keep adjusting it as its just provisional now. Of interest
the real time data also shows water temperature!
For the Upper Otter, go to
OBD
After the previous build up, I currently only have a few
correlation points. All the Otter brook observations
are consistent. For the Ash the high CFS and the this years
data for 500 CFS and below are consistent. However I went to
the Ash on 3/28/02 thinking it would be above 4.5 based on my
(currently suspect) 3/13/00 observation and was disappointed.
This may just mean the inflow estimate isn't that accurate.
I currently think the Ash is questionable below 500 cfs.
Tables say time EST/EDT. I interpollated inflow CFS
above to time of observation. It bounces around a bit, don't
put too much faith in an individual reading! If you get out there, send
me or the mvp-list the date, time, and observed gage level and I will
add it to this list.
My personal experience is the two rivers above begin to
get too low at 5.0 for Upper Ash and 1.5 for Upper Otter.
An remember I LIKE rock picking, your min may be higher.
The rivers and gages below probably can be
(or have been) correlated.
The AWWA pages
for NH uses the Ellis as a virtual gage for the Upper Saco. Its apparently
a better predictor than the N. Conway gage I've used.
My personal records are below with shortcuts to the gages. I find that
using the URL directly per below sometimes works when you can't get
to the NH-VT river site! My comments on river levels should be
combined with the knowledge than I'm a class 3 boater, where I think its
pleasant a better boater will think its too low. Where I begin to
get some pucker factor, a better boater will just be starting to have
some fun.
After the map is displayed, click on VT (top lefthand region of map) to select
it. Allow the new detailed map to display. Now you can click on any of
the icons on this map to get the real time data for that location.
Date time inflow (CFS) observed gage
Gilsum Gorge
09/18/99 1pm 1470 7.5 Hope
09/18/99 7pm 1190 6.8 willy - pucker
04/02/02 1pm 1120 6.8 willy
04/14/04 noon 1055 6.0 willy comfortable in Responce
04/16/03 noon 870 6.0 willy - little big for rpm (swim!)
09/19/99 12pm 815 6.0 tom
04/03/02 4pm 780 5.7 willy - nice, even with swim!
04/19/03 2pm 480 5.0 willy - nice in rpm
04/06/02 2pm 440 4.75 Hope - still fun
04/07/02 2pm 330 4.3
03/28/02 1pm 321 4.0 Pat - too low
03/08/02 11am 180 3.8 Pat - too low
older suspect Ash data below:
03/12/00 2pm 475 5.5 willy - pleasant
03/13/00 3pm 350 5.0 willy
10/06/99 3pm 247 4.5 Willy - very low
09/26/99 12pm 120 4.2 Willy - too low
Otter brook bridge (Sullivan)
04/14/04 8am 765 2.75 willy pushy, even in Responce
03/31/03 2pm 650 2.5 willy - too big for me in rpm, we swim
09/18/99 7pm 415 2.0 willy - nice
04/02/02 1pm 410 2.0 willy - " , watch one bigger drop
04/17/03 4pm 370 2.0 willy - just drove by
04/03/02 4pm 280 1.6~ willy
09/19/99 12pm 280 1.5 tom
03/12/00 2pm 240 1.25 willy - didn't attempt
03/13/00 3pm 170 1.0 willy - too low
03/28/02 1pm 144 0.75 willy - " "
Souhegan @Merrimack
According to George May, when the internet gage on the Souhegan at
Merrimack reports 2280 cfs you can expect the hand painted
gage on the Rt 31 bridge (class II put in) to read 2. I think its
runable down to something like 1000 cfs (?) which is around 1.5 at the Rt 31 bridge.
Date Inet gage observed gage
CFS Stage Rt 31 Power
bridge house
03/03/00 ~ 950 - 1.5 - Wyman
03/18/00 1220 5.1 1.6 1.2 Willy - Pleasant
03/01/00 1200 - - ~ 1.7 Moodus
03/17/00 1400 5.4 1.95 Moodus
- 2280 - 2.0 - George
Warner @Davisville
The guide lines I've heard are that if the Contoocook @ Henniker is over 9.5' and
or the field at 103 and 114 is flooded the top of the Warner is runable.
There is now a hand painted gage (thanks Skip) on the Lang Bridge. My home is
about 6 miles from there so I will try to watch it and report when I'm in
the area. The downstream gage seems to be a consistent.
Date Inet gage observed bridge gage
CFS Stage
04/17/99 - 4.7 1.3 Even Willy could do it!
03/29/02 410 5.2 1.75 Will - Contoocook at 7.5'
04/22/03 410 5.45 2.2 Will
04/21/03 550 5.6 2.5 Skip
03/15/00 580 5.6 2.25 Will - Contoocook at 8.5'
03/22/00 600 5.65 2.4 Will
04/06/02 650 5.75 2.5 Will - Contoocook at 8.0'
03/19/00 700 5.9 2.5+ David - Contoocook at 9.1'
04/15/03 930 6.3 3.25 Will
03/17/00 1040 6.5 3.0 Will - Contoocook at 9.2'
03/29/00 1600 7.2 4.0 Will - Contoocook at 9.6'
Winnipesaukee @ Tilton
There used to be a hand painted gage on the Cross St. bridge,
its so faded one can hardly read it so I guess I'll just go with
the internet readings here. I have one 5/97 reading of 4.0' for
Tilton stage and 2.0 on Cross st. (and I liked it).
Date Inet gage
CFS Stage
12/97 - 2.5 Tim's cor tbl - min boatable level
10/97 - 3.2 Tim's cor tbl - low
05/97 - 4.0 Will
04/10/99 1000 4.25 Art - medium
Smith @Bristol
The original rule of thumb I heard was that when the gage at Bristol was over 5 the
Cass Mill bridge section was runable. For myself, it looks like 4.0 at Bristol is enough.
A word to those who have never run this, don't laugh at the bridge gage reading
of 0.0, I find that quite exciting! Also note they rebuilt the bridge.
New footings were poured and there is a newly painted gage. Looks similar to old one,
but I think its new as of late 1999 (anyone know?).
Date Inet gage observed Comment
CFS Stage bridge gage
fall/99 350 3.8 - David - little scratchy but..
4/96 - 4.1 0.0 Tim's cor tbl - very low
4/96 - 4.3 0.4 Tim's cor tbl - low
4/05/02 470 4.2 - Will - I like this "low" level
3/27/00 560 4.5 0.25 Will - fun, but pushing my limits
4/15/03 550 4.5 0.7 Will & rpm are comfortable but working hard
4/02/02 700 4.8 1.0 Will - really pushing my limits
3/21/00 950 5.4 0.90 Will - just looked, seemed doable
3/29/00 1250 6.0 - Will - water in trees along 104
E. Branch Pemi @Linclon
I'm used to the gage on the Kancamagus bridge, eventually I'll learn to think in CFS.
The serious MVP boaters like it above 2', personally I don't get on over 1.5'.
If you like rock picking, and I do, you can run it down to around 3/4'!
If you look close you'll see some inconsistency, its likely the gage at
Lincoln isn't repeatable over the time span shown. Probably it was recalibrated it between 97 and 99 as
the stage seemed to dropped 0.5' for the same reading at the bridge.
In 2000 there was a new wrinkle, there was major Kancamagus highway bridge work going on.
There was a lot of metal work in the river to protect abuttments possibly changing flow
where gage is painted. On 3/31/00 Inet Stage of 2.4' was 0.3-0.4 at bridge
And since 2003 the Stage levels seem about 5' higher than prior years.
The CFS readings have been much more consistent. I've run it down to 400 cfs
and normally don't get on above 1000. Ran it 4/17 and 18 in 2004. On the 17th
it was at 1100 cfs, but only 0.9 on the bridge gage which doesn't agree with the
correlation below at all! On the 18th it dropped to 530cfs and 0.75' on the
bridge which is in line with data below. No idea what this means....
Date Inet gage observed bridge gage
CFS Stage
06/97 - 2.6 0.6 will still boatable & fun!
05/21/99 430 2.0 0.8 will nice for me
04/09/99 575 2.3 ~ 0.6 will just looked at it
04/17/03 550 7.0 0.9 will, took out at Loon, nice
04/21/03 600 7.1 1.0 Willy likes it, full run, beautiful day.
05/97 - 3.5 ~ 1.3 will some pucker
05/11/99 PM - 2.8 1.4 will
" noon 1100 3.0 1.5 will
" AM - 3.2 1.8 will to big for me
04/94 2100 3.7 1.8 tim's cor tbl
04/94 - 4.3 2.3 tim's cor tbl
Saco River Shed @N. Conway
I suspect this is just a general indicator as the flow is generated
by the Swift, the Ellis, and the Upper Saco. They don't always
run together but I thought I'd try to watch it some.
observed gage
Date Inet gage Swift Bartlett
CFS Stage Gorge Bridge
04/10/99 3300 5.7 1.4 1.0