Some good rain falls in the Atlanta area
The USGS site is having a hard time getting current numbers posted today, but the Lawrenceville Weather Blog has it covered. According to their site, here are some rainfall totals in our area:
- Alpharetta: 1.18 inches
- Johns Creek: 1.18 inches
- Dunwoody: 1.21 inches
- Gainesville: 1.17 inches
- Lawrenceville: 0.77 inches
- Dahlonega: 0.98 inches
- Jonesboro: 0.36 inches
- Dallas: 1.01 inches
We’ve got a chance at some more rain later this week, so hopefully it will start to make a difference in the lake levels.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
This rain brought us to a dubious milestone. Lanier is finally back above the previous record low from 1981. Very disapointing so far. I did read an article somewhere which mentioned the smaller ponds and lakes would have to fill back up first and then their overflow would fill Lanier. So maybe we will hit a tipping point soon and Lanier will start filling faster. At least we can hope.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:52 am
How much water is really left in Lanier?
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
The question of “how many days worth of water do we have left?” never seems to have the same answer twice.
The Corps of Engineers say we have 279 days left. The state says we have about 111 days left. CNN says we have 67 days left (81 days left as of 14 days ago). Alabama Gov. Bob Riley thinks we have about 243 days left (250 days left as of a week ago). So what on earth is the right answer?
There are really two parts to this question. First, how long until we hit the 1035 foot mark in Lake Lanier? When that happens, water will no longer flow over Buford Dam. From there, we’ll need to use barges and pumps to get the water from that level, also known as the “dead pool”. Not only will the water be more difficult to get out, but it will be dirtier and require additional treatment. That leads to the second question — how long will the dead pool water last?
The dead pool estimates are few and far between. The Corps says that there are 169 days worth of water in the dead pool and I’ve not found anything to contradict that. The question is whether or not they can pump it out quickly enough to keep things rolling.
The tougher question is knowing how much longer until we get to the dead pool stage. Break out your calculators.
The last four weeks has seen a total drop in Lake Lanier of 3.22 feet. That works out to an average of about 0.8 feet per week (around 9-1/2 inches). Right now Lanier is at 1055.6 feet and the dead pool begins at 1035 feet — a difference of 20.5 feet. 20.5 feet, losing 0.8 feet per week, will last about 25.5 weeks, or 179 days.
However, this doesn’t take into account the fact that the drop in lake level will likely accelerate a little bit as it goes lower. Also, the last four weeks included 1.14 inches of rain, so if the next few weeks are dry (as predicted), the lake will also drop more quickly than it has for the past month.
So what’s the answer? It’s obviously very hard to say. My wild guess would be about 20 weeks (140 days), assuming a little bit of rain and no change in the Corps release levels. That puts us in mid-March. At that point, they could start using the dead pool and we’d see how things go from there.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
There really is no dead pool for atlanta as its water intakes are below the lelevation of the bottom of the lake. Brges and the like may be necessary for those that draw from above.
I think the power plants will run dry before the Atlanta-metro water fountains do.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
What I don’t get is why the downstream users aren’t worried about what happens when Lanier gets so dry that there will be ZERO water downstream. How can that work for them? Can they really be that short-sighted? To me it makes sense that unless the level is higher than normal, the outflow should be less than or at most equal to the inflow. After all, that’s what would happen if it weren’t dammed!
February 27th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
It looks like the bufor midnight pools are creeping up. I half inch here and there and you’ll be at 1070 soon. Once the weather pattern changes(it has) it will stay that way for a long time. Your not out of the woods but your getting closer to the clearing.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:55 am
I AM YOUR NEIGHBOR
LEND ME SOME SUGAR