The Willamette River is controlled by numerous dams upriver from Newberg, primarily in the Eugene area. In late May, even in a big snow year, these reserviors have plenty of capacity to handle normal snowmelt and storm-generated run-off. The river level and flow at Newberg is effected more by spring storms the week of the race. These storms have more of an impact if the river is running at the healthy flow seen in a good water year. A rule of thumb is that if there is substantial rain in the Willamette drainage between Wednesday and Friday the week of the race, the river will come up during the race weekend. The launch ramps and docks are still useable, and buoys lines can be set with sufficient slack in order to use the course at a much higher water level than we normally see in late May. The issue becomes the river level rising and scouring the banks of debris - which then flow through the race course. A Monday-Tuesday storm can give us one last "flush", and the river will be coming down by Friday, stranding all of the debris on the shoreline.

The USGS and the NOAA Northwest River Forecast Center have automated flow meters that one can view on-line to see what the river is doing, and is forcast to do. Here are some links to the Willamette stations at Newberg (using the USGS page) Salem (the next one up river) and Oregon City (the next one down river). Also included is the one on the Yamhill River at McMinnville, the nearest upstream Willamette tributary to Newberg. The NOAA pages also offer local weather forecast information. What's really cool about the USGS site (what's not cool is no forecast information) is that if you follow the link under Summary of all Data Available for this Site, you can can look at what the river was doing going back to race dates in 2001 and 2002 - compare a "bad" year to a "good" year.

Willamette River at Salem

S. Yamhill River at McMinnville

Willamette River at Newberg

Above the Falls at Oregon City