Spokane Falls in Flood - Spring 2008

After a record snowfall in the Idaho mountains last winter, we had a sudden heat wave in mid May and the snow melt has resulted in awesome volumes in the rivers. We haven't seen water flow like this in the five years we have lived here.

EDIT 05/27/08: The flow peaked at 40,600 cfs on Friday 05/23/08.

Topo map showing the Spokane River and Falls, right next to the downtown core.

Sign near the Power Plant showing the Falls and surrounding city.

Wed 05-14-08: USGS measured flow 21,400 fps. These pics represent a "typical" Spring flood.

Panorama view from the 100 year old, but newly restored, Monroe Street Bridge, looking east toward the main Falls. The hydroelectric plant is to the south, in the center of the pic. The glass building to the far right is the downtown Public Library - the view from the reading rooms is breathtaking. Below the Library you can see the gondolas which carry tourists across the river for $8 each. They bob and hover for a while so the riders can take pictures and get thoroughly scared. "Hmmm.... Myrtle - does that cable look a little frayed to you?"

Looking downstream, into the setting sun, under the Monroe Street Bridge. Notice the huge standing waves. There will be no boating along here or a few weeks!

Looking east from the Wall Street Bridge toward the northern-most pedestrian bridge that crosses over the Upper Spokane Falls to Riverfront Park. This waterway is normally bone dry - it serves as a spillway for excess water that doesn't flow through the power plant.

Same viewpoint, looking at the southern-most pedestrian bridge. This is the normal watercourse - it flows even in the driest summer months... but not like this! This is THE spot to go, to get up close and personal to the water. It is damp and very noisy in flood.

Looking upstream from the above bridge. The flow is definitely scouring the junk off the bottom of the river.

EDIT 05/20/08:

Sunday 05-18-08:  we went down river a few miles to Riverside State Park. The Bowl and Pitcher area is a great spot to view the river and wildlife. It's a popular spot for folks to park a mountain bike or hike the many trails that spider web the river banks. USGS measured flow 25,400 cfs.

Looking down on the suspension footbridge from the west bank. The water is really close to the bridge - normally there is 25 feet+ clearance. The bridge was originally built by the CCC in the 1930s, and was rebuilt recently.

Looking SE at the bridge past the Osprey Tree. We couldn't get a close-up of the mating pair, so here is what they should look like (image snatched from Wikipedia.com):

The osprey nest with (I think) a startled bird leaving, due to two helicopters trying to land in her nest....

The lower section of Bowl and Pitcher, looking south toward the bridge.

Monday 05-19-08: Jac revisited the Falls area the next day and took the following pics - the water level was a little higher than the previous week, and the flow was more intense and generated more spray. Note that peak flow has not been reached. USGS measured flow 28,700 cfs.

The lower Falls , from a new viewpoint on the north bank....

...and looking downstream at the Monroe Street Bridge and the tourist gondalas.

More scared tourists hanging over the Abyss! It's a lot wetter today.

Looking straight under the Wall Street Bridge toward the Upper Falls.

The Upper Falls from the north bank.

The spire in the south Upper Falls. I suspect this will wash away one day.

View of the spire from the footbridge.... same angle as the pic near the top of the page (taken on Wednesday) but with a lot more water.

A little change of pace a few hundred yards away at the Riverfront Park Fountain.

EDIT 05/20/08:

Saturday 05-24-08: The entire family returned to the Falls for sight seeing and more pics. The water was still near peak flow and really roaring. The noise was incredible.  USGS measured flow 40,300 cfs.

John, Sarah and Ian standing near the Lower Falls. This is the viewpoint on the north side of the river east of the Monroe Street Bridge.

The Lower Falls at full blast.

Looking across at the lower Power Plant viewing area. It's pretty wet over there - we'll visit that spot shortly.

The viewpoint directly under the bridge - Jac is getting damp.

Jac and the kids dripping.

View north from the Monroe Street Bridge.

Panorama from the same location.

Looking straight down at the backwash below the Lower Falls. The debris is typical - Lake Coeur d'Alene is full of logs, floats and docks that have washed away.

The lower observation area at the Power Plant viewing area.

The water was so high that the maintenance guys tried to block off the flow from going the wrong way. They were only partially successful. Another foot of water and it would have been over the retaining wall and into the tourist area behind it.

Jac and the kids in front of the Lower Falls on the south bank.

Rainbow over the river, looking under the Monroe Street Bridge.

And looking back upstream. There were lots of photographers wandering around.

Another rainbow pic.

The sign says it all. At some time that big log flew out of the water and landed there... I hope nobody was standing close by when it happened.

Jac obviously can't read.... or she's feeling lucky.

A couple of marmots on the cliff near the Lower Falls.

Panorama of the Upper Falls.

The Upper Falls south pedestrian bridge, from the Wall Street Bridge. The city workers closed it off due to water coming over the center of the span - later Channel 4 News announced that a large log had landed there. Note the debris bobbing around.

The rock spire above the pedestrian bridge is nearly covered today. It was actually used as the footing for an early bridge - you can still see remnants of concrete on top.

A steel sculpture below the Big Blue Bridge upstream from the pedestrian bridge. I'm not sure what the little table is for.

Looking downstream at the pedestrian bridge. Note the plume of water hitting mid-span. That's where the log went.

This tree may not survive...

Another shot of the pedestrian bridge getting sluiced down.

And another. I can understand why they wanted to keep folks off it.

I obtained historical flow rate information from this webpage:

USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 12422500 SPOKANE RIVER AT SPOKANE, WA

By changing the parameters inside the blue box, you can see all sorts of interesting info. For example, selecting "Table" gives you cfs readings for each day sequentially in a date range. The "116 Year Mean Flow" for this time of year is 18,000 cfs (cubic feet per second), and the low at the end of last summer was only a few hundred cfs.

I looked at Daily Averages (not instantaneous peak readings) from 1921 (the first year the stream gage was operating) and I found only seven floods where the flow was above 35,000 cfs: 1933 (47,100 cfs), 1948, 1954, 1956, 1974 (45,200 cfs, and 1997. The ALL TIME RECORD Daily Average is 47,100 cfs from Christmas 1933. This year's flood didn't set a record, but it was 4th.

To show how much higher the water is this spring compared to recent years I made this table showing peak flow cfs:

Updated May 27, 2008