Monday January 6, 2025
SF Gate —
A period of atmospheric river-fueled winter storms has been a boon to Shasta Lake, raising the water level at California’s largest reservoir.
As of midnight on Thursday, the lake is 77% full with a surface elevation of 1,028.99 feet, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that oversees the lake. The storms that brought heavy rain to Northern California over the holiday period also put the reservoir at 130% of its historical average for this time of year.
The water level at the reservoir, located north of Redding, has fluctuated over the past few years as California has endured periods of wet and dry weather. During a period of drought in 2021, the lake was 185 feet from being full, as SFGATE previously reported (Shasta Lake is considered full at 1,067 feet, according to Lakes Online, a website that records lake data). More rain in the following seasons then brought the surface elevation to 1,013.21 feet a year ago, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
The recent winter storms brought some of the heaviest downpours to the Northern California area, with 10.67 inches of rain to the Shasta Dam and 4.6 to Redding from Dec. 20, 2024 through Jan. 2, according to the National Weather Service.