No end to rain, hail, mud
Don't get your hopes up yet, Yuba-Sutter folks - there may not be a glimpse of sunshine for at least another week.
As the National Weather Service predicts another week of off-and-on rain and even some hail, local residents are looking for any sign of spring, which officially arrived more than two weeks ago.
“I'm done. I've had enough so far; I think all of us have,” said Mary Langsdorf, a resident of Marysville and manager of accounting and information technology at the Frank M. Booth contracting firm in Marysville.
“I work at a sheet metal shop, so most of the guys ... they work outside, and they're tired of it. They voice their opinions regularly,” Langsdorf said with a laugh. “I'm ready for the houseboat season and it's just not happening.”
Thunderstorms are expected through tonight, with a chance of hail and a northeast wind of 6 mph. The high temperature is forecast at 59 degrees and the low, 45.
Wednesday is expected to be partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain and a south wind of about 8 mph. The high is expected to reach 59 again.
Thursday and Friday will be mostly cloudy, also with slight chances of rain. The highs are expected to hover around 62.
With the constant barrage of showers, river levels have gone up, prompting a flood alert from the state Department of Water Resources. The department will increase its watch on river and levees conditions as the rain continues through the week, and reservoirs will dump more water.
The department said Oroville Dam releases increased throughout Monday afternoon, from 18,000 cubic feet per second to 30,000 cubic feet per second by 7 p.m.
Flows were not expected to go beyond that level - depending on the weather, of course.
The releases were well below the 80,000 cubic feet per second peak flow released from the dam during the storm at the beginning of the year.
Releases from Oroville were expected to push the Feather River at Marysville/Yuba City to near 57 feet Monday afternoon, with a continued increase expected. Monitor stage, when levee patrols are called out, is 65 feet.
By Monday evening, the Yuba River was expected to pour in another 24,000 cubic feet per second, giving a combined flow of well over 50,000 cubic feet per second.
On the Sacramento River, water was flowing into weirs that take pressure off the river's levee system, including the Fremont, Colusa and Tisdale weirs. The Sacramento River at Fremont Weir was at 35.4 feet, about two feet above the monitor stage, and was expected to rise to just over 37 feet Wednesday afternoon.
Appeal-Democrat reporter Kymm Mann can be reached at 749-4707 or kmann@appealdemocrat.com. Reporter John Dickey contributed to this report.
