Tuesday evening in the Lake Houston area, and there are no flood alerts in effect for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. Both lakes are sitting in their normal range. Lake Houston has drifted down about a tenth of a foot over the last two days and Lake Conroe has eased down for a fifth straight day, which is seasonal decline rather than anything a reader needs to act on.
Lake Levels at a Glance
| Lake | Level | Percent Full | Reading Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Houston | 42.35 feet | 100.0 percent | 5:30 p.m. Central, Tuesday, October 13 |
| Lake Conroe | 199.72 feet | 94.0 percent | Daily value for Tuesday, October 13 |
Lake Houston
The United States Geological Survey gauge at Lk Houston nr Sheldon, TX, site number 08072000, read 42.35 feet at 5:30 p.m. Central on Tuesday, October 13. Over the previous 48 hours the gauge recorded 190 readings in a range of 42.35 to 42.47 feet, a spread of about a tenth of a foot. The level has moved down gradually through the day and has held within a hundredth of a foot for the last two hours.
The Texas Water Development Board daily value for Lake Houston on October 13 is 42.42 feet and 100.0 percent of conservation capacity. The two sources are measured and reported differently, the state figure being a single daily value and the federal gauge being a reading every fifteen minutes, which is why they do not match exactly.
Lake Houston normally sits at or very near 100 percent of its conservation pool. A reading of 100 percent full on this lake is the ordinary condition and is not by itself a sign that the lake is about to spill.
Lake Conroe
The Texas Water Development Board daily value for Lake Conroe on October 13 is 199.72 feet and 94.0 percent full. That is down from 199.73 feet and 94.1 percent on October 12, and it continues a slow decline that has run every day since October 9, when the lake read 199.81 feet and 94.4 percent. The total movement over those four days is about nine hundredths of a foot, which reads as ordinary seasonal decline rather than a release event.
Lake Conroe matters in this part of the county because San Jacinto River Authority releases from Lake Conroe flow down the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and into Lake Houston. That is why the upstream level is part of the local flooding picture in Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita, even though the lake itself sits in Montgomery County.
The Forecast
Tonight. A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7 p.m., then partly cloudy, with a low around 76. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent, with new rainfall of a tenth to a quarter of an inch possible.
Wednesday. A slight chance of rain showers after 10 a.m., otherwise mostly sunny. High near 90, with temperatures falling to around 87 in the afternoon. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent, with new rainfall of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Wednesday night. A slight chance of rain showers before 7 p.m., then partly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
The National Weather Service forecast carries no heat index value for any of the three periods, and the overnight low of 70 on Wednesday night is the coolest in this forecast window in some time. Rainfall totals stay at or under a quarter of an inch through Wednesday night, which is well short of the kind of rain that moves a gauge.
Weather Alerts
There are no active National Weather Service alerts for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. Eighteen alerts were active somewhere in Texas at the time of this reading, and all of them were in the Panhandle, West Texas or the Coastal Bend. The closest to this area is a Coastal Flood Advisory from the Corpus Christi office. Alerts were matched on county FIPS codes rather than on place names in the alert text.
Sources
Lake Houston elevation from the United States Geological Survey, site 08072000. Lake Conroe and Lake Houston percent full from the Texas Water Development Board. Forecast and alerts from the National Weather Service Houston/Galveston office. Gauge readings are provisional and subject to revision.
