Okay, I had a look at some river level data from the Gordon near the Huntley rivulet (not far from Richea creek). This is old data from before the Gordon dam was finished - the monitoring site is no longer there. But I'm told the river hasn't changed much since then.
This first plot shows river level for Jan and Feb 1978. The first thing to notice is that the river can rise very suddenly. It can rise 1 to 2 m in about 2 hours. And it can take a couple of days or longer to drop back to more reasonable levels. This rise can happen even with only a small amount of rain if there is already a fair bit of water in the topsoil and the creeks feeding into the Gordon. So if you have any rain at all, expect the river to rise, and don't be surprised if it rises quickly.
The second plot is from winter of 1978. The key think here is to notice how the river level can stay quite high for an extended period. This will happen if you get an extended rainy period over a few days.
Oh, for the record, after a few days of serious rain, this monitoring site recorded a river level of 4.5m - but that was the max the site could measure, so who knows where it really got to
This time of year, extended rainfalls are unlikely, but check the latest forecasts before you head out just to be sure.
Hope this helps.
Alliecat
- Gordon below Huntley river level - Jan-Feb 1978
- Gordon_below_huntley.png (21.2 KiB) Viewed 4679 times
- Gordon below Huntley river level - Jun-Jul 1978
- Gordon_below_huntley_winter.png (22.88 KiB) Viewed 4678 times