No water

[MC25]

Picture I posted was a lake.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Picture I posted was a lake.

Yikes! We have a Twin cities Metro area lake that has been fluctuating 5 - 6 feet low. Too much growth (both residential and business) that water use is more than the watershed and springs can provide. Lots of studies but no action.........

[scott023]

Picture I posted was a lake.

Holy carp!! That's nuts.

[mikeg205]

Welcome to the club

pretty shallow channel.

[atthelake]

I'm assuming none of these are actual lake, but reservoirs. Pretty spoiled in MN and WI for the amount of lakes with stable water levels.

No doubt! We've actually been struggling with too high of water levels the last two years. The lake we're on is pretty decent in the fact that Sask. Watershed has actually built a better dam (instead of the old 4x12 timbers) so I'll call them the end of May, beginning of June and ask them how much our lake is expected to drop over the course of the summer. They generally know within 4-6".

Those pictures blow me away.

[MC25]

10-12 foot deep canal!

[rodltg2]

here is the marina!

[MC25]

Lake granbury isn't that bad... holy heck!

[mikeg205]

here is the marina!

what's the forecast for refill?

[scott023]

here is the marina!

I can't imagine that.

[quincyfirefighter]

here is the marina!

Just think what the fire season is going to bring us Rod. Cal-fire and Forest Service is putting crews back in service in my area.

[GoneBoatN]

I'm assuming none of these are actual lake, but reservoirs. Pretty spoiled in MN and WI for the amount of lakes with stable water levels.

Yes, lots of reservoirs in CA. Lots of people in CA. A lot of agriculture in CA and it is in all reality mostly a desert state. So this requires the storage of water resources that are mainly received during the winter rains/snows. Basically, we typically have little to no rain from mid/end April until Oct/Nov. When we get little rain between Nov-Mar (like this year so far) that is a big issue. Combine that with the fact that there is even little snow pack in the mountains to feed those reservoirs in spring and summer it is basically a double whammy. Add to this that 2012 (2011-2012 winter) was a drought year and last year we did not exactly have a banner water year either. It's going to be a bad situation if we don't get some rain soon and a lot of it. Oh, and a dry year means more forest fires. You all remember that a lot of Yosemite burned this past summer a long with a large portion of the Stanislaus National Forest.

We have lots of lakes too but they tend to be farther distances and higher elevations so we in CA tend to do more boating on the reservoirs. We still have the Delta in the SF Bay area but I'm not sure how that will be impacted by drought; e.g. if it will lower the water level. Since the Delta is not very deep, that is a scary thought to me. At any rate, if the reservoirs are not usable for boating, then that means at the very least that the Delta will be more crowded on the weekends. I just hope the fear and paranoia that people have about the Delta will keep them away.

[atthelake]

Scott, you're probably like me and just upset our lakes are froze over...

[scott023]

Just think what the fire season is going to bring us Rod. Cal-fire and Forest Service is putting crews back in service in my area.

That's freaking scary, from a firefighters perspective. The fuel side of the wildland triangle is on a constant smolder.

[GoneBoatN]

what's the forecast for refill?

Not good - http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...o_summary.html

"California is one area where, for time scales ranging from a few days to the full month of January, almost all indicators favor below-normal precipitation. Drought persistence and potential deterioration is forecast here with high confidence."