May 2018

I have archived the May 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). What is particularly notable about the May chart is the steady decline of the lake level over the course of the month, falling from -18.24″ below the Normal High Water Mark [“NHWM”] on May 1st to -43.44″ below the NHWM on May 31st. That’s a total drop of 25.2″ in 31 days or about 0.8″ per day. Not once did the lake level rise, or remain stable. The reason for this steady decline in the water level was due to a lack of rainfall and of course, because the gate is wide open. As dry as it has been, the little rain we did receive didn’t slow down the rate at which the lake was falling one bit. During the first half of the month water was also exiting the lake through the hole in the dam.

We received only 1.17″ of rain in May or 2.5″ less than the May average of 3.7″ which puts us fully 3.2″ shy of rainfall for the year to date. It looks like we’re headed for another dry summer. For some reason, the National Integrated Drought Information System is showing us as WET which does not jive with my understanding.