How weather forecasts can help dams supply more water
For Patrick Sing, a water manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the deluge was an opportunity to try something that would be dangerous anywhere else in the country. Sing sits at the controls of Lake Mendocino, a reservoir on the Russian River near Ukiah, in northern California. … Researchers working on the approach in the U.S. say they aren’t aware of any similar projects in other countries, but studies suggest that integrating forecasts has the potential to improve reservoir operations anywhere weather predictions are sufficiently reliable. The approach could also help aging dams respond to more variable precipitation seen with climate change.