Today's River/Weather LINK Wash. DC area Marine Forecast
There are several things that must be known before heading out on the water SAFELY. Here are a few for your reference or files.
Weather Conditions in General. Water conditions in general. Air Temperature, Water Temperature. Are they changing? How will they likely change? How will the change affect your day - driving, paddling, camping, the way you dress etc.? WIND WAVES WEATHER including LIGHTNING [great new lightening stuff here] . Tides and river levels need to be known and understood in order to be safe. Some links are below.
Local Weather Washington/Baltimore area
Special Maryland
RIVER LEVELS and what those levels mean to paddlers? River levels mean different things to an Open Boater, touring, coastal/sea kayak, Rec Kayak and a C-1 /river Kayaker. How are levels changing? How fast? http://water.usgs.gov/realtime.html
Potomac at little falls gauge Generally 5 feet on the Little Falls gauge [LF]. is considered dangerous for boaters in the Great to little falls area. 3.5 to 4.5 is great 2.5 is pretty low. It's deceptive. For open boaters at Little Falls a class 3ish level is about 3 feet. At 5 feet it jumps at least a class - maybe 2 classes. A paddler must know how the gauge affects each section of the river. At the Brookmont Dam, Where the gauge is located, the river is about 1500+/- feet wide, at little falls it's about 60feet. A tiny change at the gauge can mean a huge difference where the river is constricted. as much as 25Xs.
Potomac at Harpers Ferry gauge Needles area - in general the needles area is a class 2 - 2+ at normal levels. At present I don't have a precise gauge correlation to HFG. The MCC folks suggest using the Hancock gauge where low water is about 3 feet and at 4.5 to 5 feet the needles features start to wash out.
Shenandoah at Millville gauge at 1.5 and up, the staircase is a class 2/3 run. It starts to change and get pushy around 3.5 where the river has the same CFS as a Gauley release and at 6 feet looks more like a 3/4 river where swims can be long and ugly and the run ends in an Angry Potomac. It's a good idea to check the Potomac whenever you run the Shenandoah since that's where you end up
Antietam Creek at Burnside Bridge gauge - or AW GAUGE Lower Antietam Creek is a Class 1[-2] from 2.5 up to about 4.0 on the gauge where it starts to take on a class 2 look in some areas. Upper Antietam has 4 class 2ish rapids at all levels. At 5 to 6 feet there is a real danger of strainers [which are on the creek at all levels] that are difficult to avoid and the creek is out of it's banks in low areas. At 8 feet it is in flood and probably should be avoided.
River Gauges in general American Whitewater has a lot of information here about the above gauges, descriptions of runs etc. It's also a great Org with a great Magazine.
TIDES and TABLES or tides and tables or This gives you tides for specific spots e.g. Thomas point light or tides online for Sandy Point, Thomas Point Annapolis and Galesville Put this altogether with one of Mike's Navigation courses...The nav. Aid will amaze you. keep in mind on tidal and wide flat rivers in high water and flood, the debris can be huge and relatively fast moving. Open and flat does not mean easy and safe.