Windy gap project streamflow forecasting

The recently constructed Windy Gap Project is operated by the Municipal Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Key elements of the project include: (a) a diversion dam on the Colorado River, and (b) a pumping plant and pipeline which transports diverted water to the Colorado-Big Thompson System for subsequent storage and distribution to the Platte River Power Authority and the cities of Boulder, Estes Park, Greeley, Longmont, and Loveland. The basis for timely residual volume streamflow forecasts is a remote hydrologic data collection network which utilizes the GOES Satellite for data transmission to project headquarters in Loveland, Colorado. Snowpack, soil moisture, streamflow, precipitation, temperature, and wind data collected at 16 remote sites in the Fraser River Basin are used to update a computerized hydrologic simulation model. This process-oriented model, developed from Forest Service research and pilot-tested in NASA's Colorado ASVT on Satellite Snow Cover Observations, is being used for making forecasts of residual streamflow available to the Windy Gap Project.