In the late summer of 1996, a record rain fell in many parts of the
Chicagoland area. Rainfall values exceeded the 100 year values
in much of the area. Aurora, IL recorded a rainfall of 16.9 inches
in about 24 hrs. This value is the second highest rainfall
ever recorded in the U.S. This project will attempt to explain
just how much water this is and where it went.
Project Objectives
There are several project objectives for this investigation:
I hope to obtain much of my information from world wide web sources.
For example, Nexrad radar information on the flood may still be
available. I will probably need some sort of rainfall information
from somewhere. Ideally, a hyetograph would be the best source of
data to conduct the water balance. Other information that will be
needed relates to the shape of the watershed. I would suspect that
the USGS might have this information available. I also worked for a
civil engineering firm (Rempe-Sharpe & Assoc., Geneva, IL) that may
have information on the watershed under consideration.
Expected Results
I would like to correlate the water balance as closely as possible
to the actual data. i.e. the flood stage should match the the water
level predicted by the hyetograph. This correlation may depend on
the methods used to analyze the data. I think that the compiled
information would make a very neat home page. I have some pictures
that I could post on the page, then I could post the water balance
info, etc. I could chart the inflow vs. outflow.....Many
possibilities.
Information Sources