Idaho Climate and Water Forecasts for the 2008 Water Year

October 17, 2007
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Boise, Idaho

The Climate Impacts Group Annual Fall Forecast Meeting

Every fall, the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington hosts workshops highlighting the seasonal climate forecast and water resource outlook for the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for the upcoming water year.

The information presented at these meetings provides public and private resource managers the opportunity to consider how projected seasonal streamflow levels may affect operational decisions in the Pacific Northwest.

The meetings also provide the opportunity to learn about new water resource forecasting techniques and tools.

General Meeting Information

The Climate Impacts Group's (CIG's) fall forecast meeting provided an opportunity to hear how forecasted climate conditions for winter 2007-2008 may affect regional climate and streamflow conditions in the Columbia and Snake River Basins in summer 2008. The meeting also provided a forum for sharing the latest research on climate impacts and climate forecasting in the Pacific Northwest (PNW).

The CIG's fall forecast meetings are open to the public. This year's meeting participants (pdf), which set a record for the Idaho meeting, included:

• federal, state, and local level water resource managers,
• public and private electric utility managers,
• consultants,
• fish specialists,
• agricultural specialists,
• non-profit organizations, and
• researchers.

A general breakdown of this year's meeting participants is shown below.

Click image to enlarge.

Agenda and Presentations

All presentations are in PPT format unless noted otherwise.

8:30-9:00	** Registration **
9:00-9:05	Welcome and introductions – Hal Anderson, IDWR
9:05-9:45	Winter 2006-07 climate recap and outlook for winter 2007-08 – Nate Mantua, CIG
9:45-10:15	Overview of the 2007 water year in Idaho – Steve Burrell, IDWR
10:15-10:45	Overview of key water management issues from the 2007 water year in Idaho – Hal Anderson , IDWR
10:45-11:00	** Break**
11:00-11:30	Seasonal outlooks for hydrology and water resources: Streamflow forecasts for major western U.S. river systems (with emphasis on the Columbia and Snake River basins) (Wood) and reservoir forecasts for the Snake (Hamlet) – Andrew Wood and Alan Hamlet, CIG
11:30-12:00	Modeling the Boise reservoir system with climate change – Leslie Stillwater, US Bureau of Reclamation
12:00-1:00	** Lunch (provided) **
1:00-1:30	Water Year 2007: The good, the bad and the ugly.... what happened? (pdf) – Ron Abramovich, USDA NRCS (updated by Ron in November 2007 and posted 11.20.07)
1:30-2:00	Seasonal volume forecasts using Ensemble Streamflow Prediction for the 2008 Water Year - Ray Fukunaga, NWS River Forecast Center
2:00-2:30	NWS western water supply forecast interactive web services – Kevin Werner and Jay Breidenbach, National Weather Service
2:30-2:45	** Break**
2:45-3:15	Generating a climate change streamflow scenarios database for the Columbia River Basin – Alan Hamlet, UW External link to data needs survey Extended presentation on historical streamflows reconstruction project (briefly discussed by Alan; large file - 18 MB)
3:15-3:45	Modeling socio-economic impacts of climate change on the Snake Plain - Richard Slaughter and Don Reading, CIG
3:45-4:15	Understanding downscaled climate scenarios over Idaho – Von Walden, University of Idaho
4:15-4:30	Meeting wrap-up - Hal Anderson, IDWR and Lara Whitely Binder, UW Adaptation guidebook referenced by Lara

 

Location

The Climate and Water Forecast meeting was held at the

University of Idaho, Boise
Room 156
322 East Front Street
Boise, ID 83702
Phone: (208) 334-2999

 

Other Climate Meetings of Interest

Climate and Water Forecasts for the 2008 Water Year - October 2, 2007 (Olympia, Washington)

The Climate and Water Forecasts Meeting for Washington and Oregon provided the opportunity to hear how forecasted climate conditions for winter 2007-2008 may affect regional climate and streamflow conditions in the Columbia River Basin and western Washington and Oregon. Visit the meeting web site to learn more.

The Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington
Questions? Contact Lara Whitely Binder, 206-616-5349