Lake Shasta, CA Surpasses 4 Million Acre-Feet For First Time in 1,376-Days

El Nino has been pumping water into Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, this winter and it’s so full, they’ve had to open the flood gates.  They’re letting out an absolutely enormous 20,000 cubic feet per second lately…  This is the most water they’ve let out of Shasta since 2011.

“To make room in Shasta for water from last weekend’s storms, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation ramped up releases from 5,000 cubic feet per second to 20,000 cubic feet per second on March 18. It was the first time since 2011 that the bureau released water into the upper Sacramento River at such a rapid rate, said spokesman Shane Hunt.” – LA Times

Shasta now has over 4 million acre feet of water for the first time since 2012.  Shasta is rising very fast if you consider that Shasta was at 2.8 million acre feet on March 1st and at 3.8 million acre feet on March 16th.  Shasta has risen over 1.2 million acre feet in the past 14 days…

Shasta is currently at 88% capacity & 109% of historical average for today’s date.

“For the first time in 1376 days, Shasta Lake has surpassed 4 million Acre-Feet. The last time the reservoir was above this storage was late June 2012. For today, the lake sits at 88% capacity and 109% historical average.” – NOAA, today