Lake Houston and Lake Conroe both sit in their normal range on Tuesday morning, September 15, and no flood, flash flood or river flood alert is in effect anywhere in the Lake Houston area. The only active National Weather Service alerts for the counties this paper covers are two heat advisories, both running until 7 p.m. Central Tuesday.
Lake levels at a glance
| Lake | Level | Percent full | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Houston | 42.48 feet | 100.0% | 5:30 a.m. Central, Tuesday, September 15 |
| Lake Conroe | 199.87 feet | 94.7% | Daily value, September 15 |
Lake Houston
The U.S. Geological Survey gauge at Lk Houston nr Sheldon, site number 08072000, read 42.48 feet at 5:30 a.m. Central on Tuesday, September 15. Over the past 48 hours the lake has moved between 42.40 and 42.53 feet across 190 readings running back to 6:15 a.m. Sunday, September 13.
That puts the lake 0.03 feet above the 42.45 feet it read at 5:30 p.m. Monday, the ordinary overnight recovery after an afternoon drawdown, and 0.02 feet below the 42.50 feet it read at the same hour Monday morning. The Texas Water Development Board put Lake Houston at 42.48 feet and 100.0 percent full for the same date, an exact match with the morning gauge reading.
Lake Conroe
The Texas Water Development Board lists Lake Conroe at 199.87 feet and 94.7 percent full in its daily value for September 15, the same figure it posted for September 14. The lake read 199.89 feet on September 13, so the slow decline of roughly two hundredths of a foot per day that has run for more than a week has flattened out over the past two days. This is a once daily value rather than an intraday reading.
Lake Conroe sits in Montgomery County, upstream of the Lake Houston area, and it belongs in a Lake Houston paper for a practical reason. San Jacinto River Authority releases from Lake Conroe flow down the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and into Lake Houston, so the upstream level is part of the local flooding picture in Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita.
The forecast
Today: Mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. High near 96, with temperatures falling to around 92 in the afternoon. Heat index values as high as 107. Southeast wind 0 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 76. Heat index values as high as 103. Southeast wind 0 to 5 mph. The Weather Service gives no chance of precipitation for this period.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. High near 94, with temperatures falling to around 91 in the afternoon. Heat index values as high as 103. East wind 0 to 5 mph.
Active weather alerts
Two heat advisories are in effect, both issued by the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston at 1:18 p.m. Monday and both running until 7 p.m. Central Tuesday.
The larger advisory covers Inland Harris, Montgomery and Northern Liberty counties, among others across south central and southeast Texas, and carries heat index values as high as 110. It takes in all six communities this paper serves. A second advisory covering Coastal Harris, Coastal Galveston and Inland Galveston counties carries heat index values as high as 109. The Weather Service warns in both that hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses.
No flood, flash flood or river flood alert is active for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. Six alerts were active statewide at the time of this reading.
Sources
Lake Houston elevation from the U.S. Geological Survey gauge 08072000. Lake Conroe and Lake Houston storage from the Texas Water Development Board. Forecast and alerts from the National Weather Service Houston/Galveston. Gauge readings are provisional and subject to revision by the USGS.
