decline in Columbia river water temperature?

[AlexM]

"Columbia River water temperature at John Day Dam: 72F"

That's from this evening's forecast - yet it was 73F at the beginning of July. Are the sensors screwy or is it conceivable that the temperature could actually drop over the past weeks? At the rate it was going, I thought it might be in the 80's come August!

[westender]

Maybe the upstream reserves are being tapped into now, which I heard were sufficient to keep things under control this summer. Otherwise yes, on the way to 80??

[johnl]

I go by the The Dalles sensor. Currently 71.78 F. It was 73 a few days ago....

[Susanj60]

Per our surf watch it was 72.5 at Doug's today. Was 72 two weeks ago. Is that ready-kilowatt from my youth?

[westender]

[andymc4610]

We might hit a 74 but no 80 coming this way. The decline is cause we are back to cooler temps.

[isobars]

The river temp is capped at 72 by law to protect the salmon and by mixing in cooler water from the bottoms of certain "pools" (sections of river) upstream. We already have a major sturgeon die-off upstream of the Gorge and of some of those cooler pools, suspected of being due in part to record hot WEATHER (not climate) lately.

[bjamin]

>> record hot WEATHER (not climate) lately.
So true, the climate is NOT getting hotter, just the weather.
And the oceans are NOT getting higher, just the water.
And the north pole is NOT melting, just the ice.

[surfersteve]

Bjamin - I thought that was pretty fun, but you be prepared for a 1000 word rebuttal on your ignorance (through no fault of your own). signed a friend

[isobars]

Now it's not just the sturgeon. Hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon are dying in the Columbia, with federal and state fishery biologists expecting a 50%-80% fatality rate before the water cools off.