Current Month Water Level Chart

Heavy rains over the past few days have brought the lake up 14.6″ so far from it’s low back on August 30th, most of the rise have occurred in the last 3 days. As of 7 AM this morning, the lake was at an elevation of 147.23′ or 40.92″ below the top of the dam. It’s still rising fast as the ground is saturated and the rate of runoff is high. Peak runoff typically occurs 24 hours after the end of the rain event which will be sometime tomorrow. Judging from the rate of rise in the last 24 hours and the trajectory of the curve I would expect to see the lake rise another 6″ or 8″ over the next couple of days and I wouldn’t be surprised if more than 50 cubic feet per second of water flowing out of the lake by Monday morning. Check out the Water Level Charts and guestimate for yourselves how high the lake will get.

The rapidly rising water has likely caught a few people by surprise, myself included. I woke up this morning to find my dock (which is sitting on stilts) barely above water and the ramp leading to it had floated away. I’ll be out later today searching for it and will have to move my dock in closer to shore lest it too float off in the night. Other people with moored docks and floats might find them inaccessible for the time being. On a brighter note, there were a number of people who were facing the predicament of getting their boats out of the lake. This lake level rise should make it easier. Currently at the state boat launch there’s 1.7′ of water over the foot of the ramp- still less than the design value of 2.3′ but a lot better than it has been. Tomorrow afternoon I would expect the there to be at least 2′ of water over the foot of the ramp if not more. Here’s your chance folks.

As welcome as this water level rise is, it’s important to note that the lake is still drastically low. At 40″ below the top of the dam the Great Meadow is still devoid of water and the vast wetland will offer no welcome haven to the flocks of migrating water fowl looking for a place to lay over, later this month. I’m not exactly sure how much rain we received over the past 3-4 days but we’re approaching 6″ total so far for the month, and it’s not even the middle of the month. Kelley is going to wish he had made repairs to the dam while he had the chance.