Richland Chambers Lake Level Feb 2018

So if you live on Richland Chambers or any other Texas Lake the lake level is always on your mind.   Somewhere in your thoughts, whether the lake is up or down, you're thinking about the lake level.  Sometimes in the summer you jump off your dock and its a long way to the bottom.  And then  you're out on the boat one day and you see a sand bar you haven't seen in a while.  Or, you wake up one morning and the water is up to your dock!  

So what's the lake level now?

Here is a chart of Richland Chambers Lake Level  up to February 11, 2018 for the last five years. 

Richland Chambers Lake Level

 Taken from: http://richlandchambers.uslakes.info/Level.asp

This chart represents more than 9,000 daily lake level entries and tracks the lake since January of 1990. It shows the majority of lows occur in the winter, this time of year. Also Richland Chambers fills very rapidly. The average fluctuation for this chart is: 312.46 which is a 2.54 ft fluctuation. 
To see a bigger version of this go to:  BuyRCLakeLakeLevelHistory 

So where does it need to rain to fill the Lake?

Like most Texas lakes, Richland Chambers is a rainfall dependent lake.  There has to be appreciable rainfall in the watershed to keep the lake full. 

Here is a map of where it needs to rain to fill Richland Chambers Lake.

Richland Chambers Lake Watershed

The orange area is out of the 100 yr flood plain and any major floodway

This map is a work in progress and shows the approximate boundaries of the Richland Chambers Lake Watershed. Also all the creeks that need to fill and flow in order to fill RC Lake. The watershed is approximately 1947 square miles, stretching into 6 counties.  It can be divided into two major sections by following the creeks. 

The Richland Creek Watershed and the Chambers Creek Watershed  These two can be further divided by major creek sections and both include a Corps of Engineer Lake, Lake Bardwell and Navarro Mills Lake. These lakes are used to hold back flood flood waters and control the amount of water going downstream to Richland Chambers and ultimately the Trinity River. 

In the life of the lake the average fluctuation is less than 3ft.  

They built Richland Chambers here for a reason, a lot of water comes this way to form the 3rd largest lake in Texas!!

So far we seem to be in a rainy groove this winter, let's hope it continues!