Lake Levels in 2013...
 

I know its only early December... but looking at my lake(Inland) being down 2.5ft... Im a little worried that here in MI that the levels aren't really going to improve that much over the winter... I know I might be ok in the spring or the first half of summer... but I thinking i may have a really short season next year because of this...

Anyone feel the same?

You can read my thoughts about this ongoing problem on Lake St Clair. I posted this back in October.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...air-water.html

I feel the same here in Arkansas. We had an extreme drought, and our lake was so low at the end of the season, I couldn't launch my boat at most ramps. We are currently sitting about 8' below normal pool and without a really wet winter/spring, we will be starting at a deficit. Although our lake is not large (48,000 acres), it has swung wildly up and down the past 5 years. In 2008, it flooded at 26' over normal pool. Crazy stuff!

Chris, anyone with a boat around us should be worried about it and be hopping for lots of the white stuff this winter and some long deep freezes. I worry about the same here on the "big water" and I know it's cyclical, but it was as bad as I've seen it since I was a kid (I've never seen it this bad for this long) Once your lake runs dry (and hopefully not) -- come bring that little rocket over to the bigger water late in the season, if we have any left...

One things for sure around here, Tow Boat US made a mint at the end of the year getting people out of docks who were trapped in mud, bet those people won't make that mistake next year.

Smith Mt. Lake in Va. is down as well. None of the boat ramps are accessible and the majority of home owners can't even lower their boats from their lifts. Turns out they are releasing more than they are getting in because the folks down stream did a better job of working the system when guidelines were picked a few years ago. Looks like we are stuck with it til 2015.

http://www.smithmountainlakelevel.co.../Chart0856.gif

Thats incredible!!! The thought of myself putting in so much effort this year with my boat is making me have second thoughts... New upholstery, put new floor in, new carpet, and heads and cam... wtf...

I'm just finishing a one restoration on my Magnum sport. Looks like I will have it done in time to make a good yard ornament next summer. :lolhit:

Lake Lanier in Georgia is down 14.49 feet. Never hit full pool this year.

Lake Travis is only 36.8 feet below it's historic November average :(

Which means it's roughly 50' down from "full pool"......

I know how you guys feel. Carlyle Lake and Lake Shelbyville are Corp owned flood control lakes here. You have to check which ramps are ok to use each weekend until mid-summer.

Lake Ontario just hit a 50-yr low, with all of the great lakes expected to be at record low levels by April. Not good for Spring boating. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/w...ts/ontario.gif

My home reservoir Blue Mesa Reservoir, largest body of water in Colorado (only 9000 acres) Sixty miles west of the Continental Divide is over 70 vertical feet down from full pool. The second lowest it has ever been since the dam was built in 63.

Right now we are started on a real crappy snow year if we don't get ALOT of snow soon We won't have much boating here. Or irrigation water.

This season I barely made it out of the marina for final haul out in October. The water is so low that the big rocks in the channel caused 8 bent prop blades. If the water level doesn't get better, half the boats in the marina cannot get in or out next season. As it is in the start of the season on Lake Ontario there were places I had just 6 inches to play with and not worry about rocks.

One of the other boats bought side scan sonar and put it on the small tender to mark rocks for next season.

Water levels across the U.S. are all down. Question is, where did it all go ?? There is a pretty set amount of water on the planet. It just gets moved around in cycles.

Probably sitting on shelves called bottled water. This may sound stupid, but any time I see someone throw away a plastic water bottle with water in it, I cant help but think its probably stuck in there forever.

Yea Lake Lanier is going way down this time! I move my dock out every Wednesday!

Let it snow and rain EVERYWHERE :) All of the lakes and rivers that we use here in Fl. seem to be full. And of course if we boat in the ICW, it's always at sea level.......

Here in PA, our lake got low enough at the end of the season that I was barely able to get on my trailer at haul out time. However, we've had a lot of rain thru the fall plus Super Storm Sandy so we are back to normal I believe. Fingers crossed for the Spring and for everyone else across the USA.

Boo Hoo ...you guys are complaining about 2.5 ft , Lake Mead is down over 101 ft right now ! We need snow in the Rockies !

Here in CT we get in the mid 50s for inches in precipitation for the year (snow/rain). We're 20 inches behind in rain. It doesn't rain here anymore...even that stupid hurricane that ripped our area didn't dump much rain, just wind and water piling up.

We're pumping pretty much sediment in our well the past month, I suspect there's going to be some serious water issues soon. We have miserable weather, but it's mostly drizzle that has no accumulation.

Ya no kidding. I move ours out just about every weekend. Hope we get some rain before spring/summer

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/644/lakelevel.png

Texas Levels
 

Out of all these lakes / reservoirs I count only 5 being at level or slightly above. Texas and the west / mid west / plains, are all in need of rain bad. Pic shows drought affected ares:

http://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/statewide

It's not looking any better here in Utah.

If we had 101 feet we wouldn't complain either, zip it and go make some sno-cones :evilb:

That's an incredible drop; how do your launch ramps and marinas cope with that? Since the levels of the great lakes don't typically change that much, and also due to the rough water on the lakes, most marinas and launch ramps are located in the shallower protected bays, inlets, etc. Because of that, if the water levels drop more than a couple feet, many of those areas can become completely cutoff.

And the SoCal area is going to need De-salination plants soon if the Col River water situation doesn't improve........:eekdrop:

One of the great benefits of LOTO is that it will typically be very close to "normal" pool year around, each and every year.

When I travel around and see some lakes I shake my head in disbelief. If there is only so much water on this earth, and it doesn't go away, and the polar ice is melting, then where in the fock is it?

Didn't Al Gore say that New York would be underwater by now?

thought it looked really low when I passed through in october...go through there every year about the same time...you guys had a crappy sled season last year too right???

You should see the bullfrog ramp its got to be 1/4 mile long , ya have to pack a lunch to walk up to the parking area :eekdrop:

And didn't al gore buy an ocean front property...right after spewing all this nonsense about ocean levels rising due to polar ice melts...complete crap, but he raked it in.
We had drought this past summer as well- river's and lakes all low but 3 yrs ago we had record snowfall amounts... so who knows

At the ramp / dock area at Temple bar at lake Mead , you pick up a courtesy phone and the people at the cafe / top of boat ramp , send a van down to get you ! It's about 1/3 mile away ,and in 117* heat it's a ***** to hike .

Pictures from drought
http://lightbox.time.com/2011/08/11/...rge-steinmetz/

I am in a bay in the 1000 Islands, St Lawrence River is SCARY low! Lowest I have seen in my lifetime [40years] I had some dredging done a few years ago, and will probably have to do some more, just hope the "rest" of the bay stays deep enough to get out into the river, I am hearing reports of ships running aground ALL the time, and the car ferry that travels between Kingston and the Island we are on has BARELY enough water to run in, I hate to think what the water levels will be like if we get no snow again this year. My neighbour has less than a foot of water in her boathouse and it used to be over my head :-[

Must be the bottling plants taking all the water, Geez, EVERYWHERE else I see on TV is being hit with flooding!!??

October? Hunting? Yea, last year was a crap sled season and this year is looking worse! We will see...... jet stream has dropped down and looks like we may get back in the moisture flow this weekend.

It's pretty amazing how fast it CAN turn around. But you can also get screwed.

Long range weather patterns across the U.S. are all screwed up and it may get a lot worse for a long time before it gets better..... conditions were like this in the 30,s at the start and got a lot worse for a lot of years .No one knew how to deal with it then and I am sure no one knows what to do now ----we ,along with everyone else on this planet may have sunk our own boats because of because of all the pollution in the air. Im not saying Gore and his pals are right but if they are we may have a 30 or 40 year drought across the country and flood the East and West coast ..... You can kiss Key West so long-----God what am I saying we'll have to hold the world's on lake Erie..:eekdrop::eekdrop::eekdrop:





Jim

Lake Erie was the lowest I ever saw it this summer and especially in the fall, hard to get the boat in and out of ramp...

yep hunting up above Paonia last 16 years, use to hunt white river area before it was draw only. its reopened but too many hunter due to the easy access. Been a number of years since we had any moisture during hunting season to talk about.

Man that is sad to see, I thought you guys were getting plenty of rain. It must be most of the south, Lanier has only a few boat ramps open and you best have a bass boat or you are not going to use those.

Man, that is some crazy chit! I doubt I'll see "normal" levels on those Texas Lakes in my lifetime! Rivers completely dried up?!?! That'll take a LONG time to come back. Lots of years of above avg. precip.