It's Raining

It's Saturday morning as I write this, and it has been raining off and on for a day and a half. The rain began late Thursday night. By daylight Friday morning, it had rained just under half an inch at my house. Most of Friday was overcast and misty, so there was no further accumulation of moisture, but at least everything had a chance to soak in.

Late last night (Friday), it began raining again. As of 9:30 this morning, I have about 1.1 inches in my gauge (starting from Friday night), and I expect more before this system moves out of the region. Water is puddling all over the yard, and that is good.

So far this year, the official tally for San Angelo is 4.26 inches of rain, and that does not include what we have received since Friday night. Our normal rainfall for this time of year is 1.72 inches, so we are ahead of the average. However, lake levels have not shown any improvement yet. What we really need is several days of constant rain. So far, the rains have been less than an inch at a time, so there has really not been a chance for runoff.

Currently, our area lakes are still way down. The data below indicates lake, current capacity, and acre feet of area lakes:

• Nasworthy, 81%, 8,216 ft
• O. C. Fisher, 1%, 1,015 ft
• Twin Buttes, 6%, 11,557 ft
• Spence, 0%, 2,297 ft
• Ivie, 18%, 97.055 ft

San Angelo gets most of its water from O. H. Ivie Reservoir, which is located about 50 miles due east of Angelo. The lake is formed mainly from the Colorado River and the Concho River. The watershed for these rivers is mainly north and west of San Angelo, so that is where we really need the rain. O. C. Fisher, Twin Buttes, and Lake E. V. Spence are also dependent on these rivers.  So we need heavy, sustaining rains between San Angelo and the Lubbock/Midland area.

I hope the rest of the state is getting some of this rain. The area from the Metroplex to near Austin has received good rains in recent weeks, and they are currently not in a drought status, though most of the rest of the state remains in critical condition.