Wednesday morning 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 is up about two hundredths of a foot from this time yesterday and Lake Conroe has held steady after a four day slide, so there is nothing in this morning’s numbers that a reader needs to act on.
Lake Levels at a Glance
| Lake | Level | Percent Full | Reading Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Houston | 42.44 feet | 100.0 percent | 5:30 a.m. Central, Wednesday, October 14 |
| Lake Conroe | 199.72 feet | 94.0 percent | Daily value for Wednesday, October 14 |
Lake Houston
The United States Geological Survey gauge at Lk Houston nr Sheldon, TX, site number 08072000, read 42.44 feet at 5:30 a.m. Central on Wednesday, October 14. 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 low point came at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and the lake has recovered since, holding at 42.44 feet for most of the overnight hours.
At the same hour yesterday the gauge read 42.42 feet, so the lake is two hundredths of a foot higher than it was twenty four hours ago. The Texas Water Development Board daily value for Lake Houston on October 14 is 42.44 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 always 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 14 is 199.72 feet and 94.0 percent full. That is unchanged from the October 13 daily value of 199.72 feet and 94.0 percent, and it flattens a slow decline that had run every day from October 9, when the lake read 199.81 feet and 94.4 percent, through October 13. The total movement over that stretch was 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
Today. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny. High near 91, with temperatures falling to around 88 in the afternoon. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
Tonight. Partly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southeast wind 0 to 10 mph. The forecast carries no measurable chance of rain overnight.
Thursday. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny. High near 89. East wind 0 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 lists no expected rainfall amounts, which means the storm chances in this window are the scattered afternoon kind rather than the kind of rain that moves a gauge.
Weather Alerts
There are no active National Weather Service alerts for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. Six alerts were active somewhere in Texas at the time of this reading: flood watches issued by the Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland/Odessa offices, a flash flood warning for three eastern Panhandle counties, a high wind watch from the El Paso office covering far West Texas, and a flood watch from the Norman, Oklahoma office that reaches the state line. The closest of them is several hundred miles from the Lake Houston area. 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.
