Good morning. This is the Monday morning reading for the Lake Houston area. There are no flood alerts in effect for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. Both lakes are sitting in their normal range, and the only weather worth planning around is heat, with a heat index as high as 102 on Columbus Day and as high as 105 on Tuesday.
Lake Levels at a Glance
| Lake | Level | Percent full | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Houston | 42.46 feet | 100.0 percent | 5:30 a.m. Central, Monday, October 12 |
| Lake Conroe | 199.74 feet | 94.1 percent | Daily value for Monday, October 12 |
The two columns come from two different services on two different schedules. The Lake Houston elevation is an intraday gauge reading from the United States Geological Survey. The percent full figures and the Lake Conroe elevation are once daily values from the Texas Water Development Board, so they carry a date rather than a clock time.
Lake Houston
The USGS gauge at Lk Houston nr Sheldon, TX, site 08072000, read 42.46 feet at 5:30 a.m. Central on Monday, October 12. Over the previous 48 hours the gauge ran between 42.38 and 42.50 feet across 190 readings, a spread of twelve hundredths of a foot. The lake eased down through the weekend and has been flat overnight, holding within a hundredth of a foot for the last several hours. That is ordinary movement for a lake at its conservation pool and there is no flood signal in it.
The Texas Water Development Board daily value for Lake Houston on October 12 is 42.45 feet and 100.0 percent of conservation capacity, which agrees with the USGS gauge to within a hundredth of a foot. Lake Houston normally sits at or very near 100 percent of its conservation pool, so a full reading is the lake’s usual state rather than a warning. It is the reservoir that supplies much of Houston’s drinking water, and it is kept full on purpose.
Lake Conroe
The Texas Water Development Board daily value for Lake Conroe on October 12 is 199.74 feet and 94.1 percent full, down from 199.75 feet on Sunday, October 11. That is a drop of one hundredth of a foot, and the percent full figure is unchanged. The lake has come down a little each day since October 9, when it read 199.81 feet and 94.4 percent, which reads as a slow seasonal decline rather than a release event.
Lake Conroe matters here because San Jacinto River Authority releases from Lake Conroe flow down the West Fork of the San Jacinto River into Lake Houston. The upstream level is part of the local flooding picture in Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita, which is why this paper carries it alongside the Lake Houston gauge every morning and evening.
The Forecast for the Lake Houston Area
Columbus Day. Mostly sunny, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and a slight chance after that. High near 92, with heat index values as high as 102. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent, with new rainfall of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tonight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 75. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph with gusts as high as 20 mph. New rainfall of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tuesday. Partly sunny, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. and a chance of showers and thunderstorms after that. High near 91, with heat index values as high as 105. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent, with new rainfall of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
The forecast is from the National Weather Service office in Houston and Galveston for the Kingwood gridpoint, updated at 4:01 a.m. Central Monday. Rain chances rise through Tuesday but the expected amounts are small, under a tenth of an inch in both daytime periods, so nothing in this forecast points to a drainage problem.
Active Weather Alerts
There are none. The National Weather Service has no active alerts of any kind for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties this morning. Four alerts were in effect across Texas at the time of this reading and none of them covers the Lake Houston area: a rip current statement for Galveston Island, Bolivar Peninsula and the Brazoria and Matagorda islands, coastal flood advisories on the Coastal Bend and in the Rio Grande Valley, and a flood warning for Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson and Orange counties in far southeast Texas. Alerts were matched on county codes rather than on place names in the alert text, so there are no false positives in that count.
Note the heat. No heat advisory is in effect, but a heat index of 102 today and 105 on Tuesday is worth planning around if you are working or exercising outside in the afternoon.
Sources
Lake Houston elevation: United States Geological Survey, site 08072000. Percent full and Lake Conroe elevation: Texas Water Development Board. Forecast and alerts: National Weather Service, Houston and Galveston. Gauge readings are provisional and subject to revision by the USGS.
