How California Reservoir Water Levels Changed After Atmospheric River
February 3, 2025
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather but she also reports on other topics for the National News Team. She has covered climate change and natural disasters extensively. Anna joined Newsweek in 2022 from Current Publishing, a local weekly central Indiana newspaper where she worked as a managing editor. She was a 2021 finalist for the Indy’s Best & Brightest award in the media, entertainment and sports category. You can get in touch with Anna by emailing a.skinner@newsweek.com. Languages: English.
Anna Skinner
Senior Writer, General Assignment
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Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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California’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville, saw water level increases over the weekend after an atmospheric river brought heavy rain to the region.
Newsweek reached out to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) by email for comment.
Why It Matters
Both reservoirs have been steadily rising since November, after the start of California’s water year in October. A series of atmospheric rivers brought heavy rain to the region in December, but California hadn’t seen much rain since until another atmospheric river arrived over the weekend.
Low water levels are visible at Shasta Lake on July 2, 2021, in Redding, California. Low water levels are visible at Shasta Lake on July 2, 2021, in Redding, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty
What To Know
As of Monday, Lake Shasta water levels were at 1,032.21 feet, a 4-foot rise over their elevation on Friday. Lake Shasta is California’s largest reservoir.
Lake Oroville water levels are at 847.33 feet, a nearly 7-foot rise since Friday. Lake Oroville is California’s second-largest reservoir.
Lake Shasta is about 35 feet below full capacity, and Lake Oroville is about 53 feet below full capacity. Both lakes either reached or neared capacity in 2023 and 2024 after battling years of drought that depleted the water levels.
Lake Oroville is currently above 2023 and 2024 levels at this time of year. Lake Shasta is above its 2023 levels but about 4 feet below its 2024 levels as of February 3.
To prepare for this week’s heavy rain, the DWR increased water releases to the Feather River from Lake Oroville over the weekend to “maintain flood protection for downstream communities.”
The DWR was scheduled to use Oroville’s dam spillway to continue its flood control releases on Monday.
What People Are Saying
California DWR in a post on X on Monday: “DWR will begin using Oroville Dam’s main spillway for flood control releases this morning at 10 a.m. With continued wet weather in the Feather River basin increasing runoff to Lake Oroville, these federally required releases provide ongoing protection against widespread flooding to downstream communities under Water Control Manual guidelines established by the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters]. Total Feather River releases are expected to reach 35,000 cfs by 2 p.m. this afternoon.”
What Happens Next
A similar storm is bringing rain across Northern California this week, and both reservoirs are expected to continue rising. Widespread amounts of 3 to 4 inches of rain were expected through Wednesday morning. Dry weather is expected to return this weekend.
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