Our tax $ at work !
I use this site all the time.
www.usgs.gov/
Poke about and you will find realtime streamflow data for your area. These graphs often contain
water temps as well as gage heights and flow volume.
yes some folks skip the dire warning
on the gasp reflex. Many people miss the fact that the emt crew used a “core warmer” on him as a result of his exposure. We are talking specialized active warming equipment. While his points about not panicking are good, and his advice could save lives in suburbia, in a wilderness first aid situation he might well have died.
gasp reflex/functioning within time
Those are two things the time for survival charts ignore.
If a person isn’t protected from gasp reflex the only thing their pfd is going to do is help float the body.
The other often misused information, next to “when the combined air/water temps are less than…”, is the time of survival chart. That a persons core temp will maintain for X range of minutes or hours is pretty much for the rescuers utility because it’s immaterial if your core is toasty warm and your hands are dysfunctionally frozen or your vestibular functions (balance/vertigo) are screwed up from cold water in the ear canal. A good example being a person in a well insulated dry suit and inadequate head gear. I’ve seen a big guy with lots of heat generating capacity turn into a walking drunk from 30 seconds of rolling in 47 degree water without head gear.
Upper Delaware
Wondering who you might be as I paddle the same area including the Beaverkill?
NWS Posted 64 Degee Water
today and today was the first day of the year with shorts and no dry pants. A light splash top was just about right with no layers under. Air temps were in the low seventies when I went out.
Happy Paddling,
Mark
headgear
What kind of headgear would work well for summer air temp about 70+ and water ?45+
roto cooling
In the Northeast the air warms way ahead of the water. So, we atre often paddling in dry suits becuase of sub 60 degree water when the air temps are 10 or more degrees warmer.
On these days it is very effective to roll, scull, or dip off of someone’s bow to cool down. If the water is under 40, I scull or grab someone’s bow and dip into the water. If the water is over 50, I roll. Between 40 & 50 it depends on how confident I’m feeling.
Check your e-mails
Based on your skill
none would make me happy but I would just do without it as my roll is getting right decent. OTOH I keep a rapistyle survival hood in the pfd pocket and if I knew that things might be getting dodgy for me soon I might slip it on.