December and January are the two months when the most rainfall occurs in Lake County.
The average rainfall for December is 6.95 inches and the average for January is 7.01 inches. The average for November is 4.27 inches, but this past November the county only received a little more than an inch. The December long-range forecast calls for less than normal rainfall. To date Lakeport has received only 1.33 inches of rainfall since October.
The water year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. The California Department of Water Resources predicts that this will be a dry winter.
The lake level as of Sunday was .76 feet on the Rumsey Gauge. Last year at this time the lake level was 1.25 feet and the average is 1.32 feet. The lack of rainfall has made the soil extremely dry and it will take at least five inches of rainfall to saturate the hillsides before any runoff occurs into the lake.
A drought not only impacts the human population but fish and animals as well. For example deer will have less food and if the lake level doesn”t rise to at least five feet on the Rumsey Gauge the streams that flow into the lake will be very low and could impact the spawning of the hitch, a native fish that is presently being considered for endangered listing.
