Lake Oroville inches away from full pool
By Patrick Wright
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California (KHSL) — Lake Oroville has reached its capacity and people are taking notice. The sun is out and the lake level has reached 100% capacity with only less than a foot before it reaches 900ft in elevation. The 900 foot elevation is full capacity for the lake, putting it just below the lip of the emergency spillway.
Given the full lake, people are taking notice. Al Maurer a Lake Oroville visitor says he loves seeing the lake so full and it brings back memories of when he used to live in the area of watching kids play in the water without having to hike to the water’s edge.
Russell Schwab who was walking along the dam say it was great to have the lake fuller for longer and is nice to see, especially with the snowpack still in the mountains.
Our visit to the lake was a bit windy limiting the number of people on the water and walking the dam but as the weather warms and winds calm down I expect that to change. Many people are extra relieved to see the high water for the 2nd year in a row given the rough few years the lake has seen from the disaster in 2017 and the multi-year drought which prevented the dam from producing power only a couple years ago. The last time Lake Oroville was at this level was in June of 2023.
The water was full behind the dam but also flying out of the spillway indicating a delicate balance taking place. There is still 125% of your snowpack for this time of year sitting in the northern Sierra and that will eventually make its way through our local waterways.
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