-
Europe’s Trump Playbook: Offer Carrots but Warn That You Have a Big Stick - 9 mins ago
-
Aunt Plays Hide and Seek With Toddler, But One Thing Gives Her Away - 16 mins ago
-
Bering Air Flight Goes Missing Over Alaska: What We Know - 51 mins ago
-
Trump Signs Order to Fight ‘Anti-Christian Bias’ - 54 mins ago
-
Demetrius Frazier’s Final Words Before Execution in Alabama - about 1 hour ago
-
Opinion | Reimagining the American War Machine - 2 hours ago
-
David Robertson Predicted To Sign Projected $7 Million Deal With Rangers - 2 hours ago
-
Trump, the Panama Canal and China’s Role: What We Know - 2 hours ago
-
KRAFTON Unveils PUBG: Blindspot, a Top-Down Tactical Shooter - 3 hours ago
-
Small Plane With 10 Onboard Goes Missing in Alaska - 3 hours ago
How California Reservoir Water Levels Changed After Atmospheric River
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.

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.
Source link