Monthly Lanier water level chart: August, 2008
Being the first day of the month, it’s time for our monthly status chart and things are looking better! Fay certainly did a lot of good for us. Rather than drop 2.5 feet like we did last August, the lake actually rose.
The bad news is that we’re still in rough shape. Today is the lowest the lake has ever been on September 1st, which is the kind of record we’re setting every day still. The key is whether the lake will plummet over these next few months like it did last year. The extra moisure in the ground and the threat of more heavy rain (Hanna?) tend to point to good news, but you never know.
Last September the lake dropped by over three feet (1061.77 down to 1058.73). What do you think it will do this year?
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
I definitely think the conditions are right for a three feet drop like we saw last September. There is plenty of moisture in the tropical storms heading this way, and with the change in water management strategy, it would be hard to drop 3 feet even if we got no rain in the Lanier basin for the entire month. Just one more tropical storm to move across the north Georgia region would be enough to at least keep us at the same level for the end of September as the beginning.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
I still think Hanna is going to drop water on Georgia. I think the lake will stay near steady by the end of September.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Isn’t the Army Core of Engineers still releasing less water per day than they were last year? The drop will be less just for their part alone.
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I think Dreidson meant to say the opposite of what he actually said. I think the word “don’t” was supposed to be the second word of his post.
Certainly looks like Gustav’s moisture ought to be providing something for the watershed, and I bet we’ll have year/year improvement by the end of October. I still think people shouldn’t water their grass in the summer in Atlanta though!
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Gustav? You mean Hanna? Gustav is steadily making his way into Texas right now.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I think Dreidson meant to say the opposite of what he actually said. I think the word “don’t” was supposed to be the second word of his post.
Yes, I didn’t say what I meant. Oops. I meant conditions aren’t right for a 3 foot drop, but rather a stable up increasing leve.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
CaptCarrot -
Yes and no. The COE is certainly releasing less from Lanier, but they are actually releasing more from the ACF system as a total (releases at Woodruff leave the ACF and flow into the ocean). The real difference this year is that the downsream lakes have had plenty of inflow so Lanier hasn’t been called upon to fill them while they are releasing into the Gulf of Mexico.
So while Lanier inflow numbers have been poor this year like last year, Lanier has held it’s own with a relatively normal summer drop so far. This illustrates the point that the problem last year wasn’t Atlanta usage, it was the amount of water being sent downstream to support Florida, Alabama, and south Georgia.
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