Lake Washington water levels coming back up

Starting the annual refill of the lake tomorrow, it will reach full capacity by June 1 they say, but my experience is that they do most of the filling early on. Keep an eye on your lines!

http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/Media...-begins-lake-washington-annual-summer-refill/

Finally some more water under our hull!
Kevin

I grew up a few blocks from parkshore and my parents kept their boat there. Rainier Yacht Club Members 60's through 90's. Remembering the lake swinging high to low to high, etc.

How much of the snowfall that lands on the west side of the mountains feeds into Lake Washington when it thaws? Could the heavy snowfalls we've seen in the Cascades present any flooding problems?

LG111 said:

I grew up a few blocks from parkshore and my parents kept their boat there. Rainier Yacht Club Members 60's through 90's. Remembering the lake swinging high to low to high, etc.

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Nice, Ive been a member at RYC for several years now, fun club. Are you still in the area?

Gofirstclass said:

How much of the snowfall that lands on the west side of the mountains feeds into Lake Washington when it thaws? Could the heavy snowfalls we've seen in the Cascades present any flooding problems?

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I think a good majority of the snowpack melt eventually ends up in Lake Washington. Some will go through intermediate lakes like Sammamish and others, but it all eventually drains there I believe. Between the snowpack and heavy rains during winter, the Army Corps of Engineers lowers the lake level to be able to handle any extra amounts without flooding. The danger comes when we don't have a huge snowpack, and they don't have enough runoff to refill the lake in the spring. That's been the case the last 2 years, and the lock usage was severely limited because of it. Not so much this year, given the amount of snow in the Cascades and now with the rainfall, we'll have plenty I think!

Kevin