This is the Wednesday morning reading for September 23. There are no flood watches, warnings or advisories in effect for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. Both lakes are sitting in their normal range, and both have eased down slightly over the past two days. One air quality alert is active, and it is covered in the alerts section below.
| Lake | Level | Percent full | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Houston | 42.30 feet | 99.6 percent | 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, USGS gauge |
| Lake Conroe | 199.71 feet | 94.0 percent | Daily value for September 23, TWDB |
Lake Houston
The USGS gauge at Lk Houston nr Sheldon, TX, site number 08072000, read 42.30 feet at 5:30 a.m. Central on Wednesday, September 23. Over the previous 48 hours the gauge ran between a low of 42.27 feet, recorded at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, and a high of 42.37 feet, recorded at 8:15 a.m. Monday. That is a total swing of about an inch and a quarter across two days, with no rise in the record.
The Texas Water Development Board lists Lake Houston at 99.6 percent full, with a daily value of 42.33 feet for September 23. The board’s daily figure and the USGS gauge reading agree closely, which is what normal operation looks like.
Lake Conroe
The Texas Water Development Board daily value for Lake Conroe on September 23 is 199.71 feet and 94.0 percent full. That is down 0.02 feet from 199.73 feet on September 22, continuing a slow decline that has run all week. This is a once daily value rather than an intraday reading.
San Jacinto River Authority releases from Lake Conroe flow down the West Fork of the San Jacinto River into Lake Houston. That is why the upstream level matters in Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita, and why this paper carries the Conroe number alongside the local one.
Weather
Today. Sunny, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. High near 97. Heat index values as high as 105. Northeast wind 0 to 5 mph. The National Weather Service forecast text puts the chance of precipitation at 20 percent, while the gridded data for the same period gives 15 percent.
Tonight. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8 p.m., then partly cloudy. Low around 77. Heat index values as high as 101. Northeast wind 0 to 5 mph. Gridded chance of precipitation 12 percent.
Thursday. Mostly sunny. High near 95. Northeast wind around 5 mph. The forecast carries no chance of precipitation for the period.
Alerts
There are no flood watches, flood warnings or flood advisories in effect for Harris, Montgomery or Liberty counties. One alert is active for the coverage area: an Air Quality Alert issued by the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston at 2:51 p.m. Tuesday, declaring Wednesday, September 23 an Ozone Action Day for the Houston, Galveston and Brazoria area. It runs until 7 p.m. Wednesday and covers inland and coastal Harris County.
Three flood alerts are active elsewhere in Texas, all of them in the far western part of the state near El Paso and the Guadalupe Mountains. None of them affect this area.
More on local drainage and dredging work: Lake Houston Dredging District board works on funding as Rep. Cunningham sets a January deadline.
Sources: USGS site 08072000, the Texas Water Development Board and the National Weather Service Houston/Galveston office. Gauge readings are provisional and subject to revision by the USGS.
