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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:19 am, the temperature outside is 57.2 degrees.
It has been raining since about 1 am. The Knoxville Airport reports .48 inches fell while in Townsend the rain gauge indicates we have had .63 inches. We are under a flash flood watch until 10 am this morning. I checked the national weather radar. It appears the heaviest rain will be moving to our east later this morning.
Showers will continue through the morning and early afternoon. The high temperature today will be in the mid-50’s, dropping to the mid 20’s tonight. It will be partly cloudy and colder tomorrow with a high in the low 40’s and a low in the mid-20’s Friday night. Saturday will be sunny and warmer.
Little River is rising. Currently, the river is flowing at 4,700 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 6.74 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 284 cfs. Flood stage is listed on the USGS page as being 7 feet and 8 feet. That is a mistake of course. Last week, the Little River flooded. The gauge reading peaked at 11.33 feet.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 6,500 cfs, 6.46 feet, compared to median flow for this date of 618 cfs. The river is rising. During the flood last week, the river peaked at 13.9 feet. Flood stage is 11 feet.
Oconaluftee River is rising quickly. Flow is 6,520 cfs, 6.67 feet, compared to median flow of 528 cfs.
Tellico River is flowing at 7,430 cfs, 10.06 feet, compared to median flow of 292 cfs. The river is rising very quickly. Last week, Tellico River peaked at 12.38 feet at the Tellico Plains gauge. The highest recorded flow there was 14.18 feet in 1973.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 1,420 cfs, 5.12 feet, compared to median flow of 125 cfs.
There are a couple of roads in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that are closed this morning due to high winds or debris on the road. They are Little river Road from Elkmont to Townsend and US Highway 441 from Sugarlands to Cherokee.
Fishing in the Smokies is not recommended today due to high water.
TVA and the Corps of Engineers are generating at most tributary dams today but there are breaks in the flows at some. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can work with their schedules. Some tailwaters may be stained today.
They are generating and spilling at the dams on the Tennessee River. TVA is holding back water at Fontana Dam today, until about 5 pm.
No huge rain events are predicted in the long term forecast for our area through February 27th after today. That is great news. I hope this is correct.
We will have some warm days and nights mixed in with some that are chilly. We are all waiting for the water to recede and also hoping water temperatures will be good for fishing when they do. I think they will.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
February 13, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
