It isn’t often that I update the water level charts more than once a day but I did this day, the water was coming up so fast you could almost watch it rise. The lake has come up a little more than 12″ since last Monday when it started raining, rising from -56.52″ below the top of the dam to -44.16″ earlier this afternoon and they’re forecasting rain for a couple more days too so the lake isn’t done rising by a long shot. Runoff was limited at the start because most of the rain soaked into the dry ground rather than running off into the lake the ground is now saturated and runoff rates are more or less normal now.

You’ll notice a new feature on the water level charts: a straight black line across the chart at an elevation of -34″ below the top of the dam which is the approximate elevation of the bottom of the hole in the dam. When the water rises above this level it will start pouring through the hole. Last year Kelley did everything he could to keep the lake level below -40″ to prevent enlargement of the hole, causing further damage to the dam. If he keeps up this practice this year, expect him to open the gate this weekend.