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The lake level


cedros

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 l have lived near tihe lake for 20 years    and it is plenty high as far as we are concerned. We used to be  able to walk  along the lake.. Many people have taken over the federal zone and it is not possible to walk along the lakeside any longer and it is a real shame.

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56 minutes ago, daisy2013 said:

It rained more this year than last year.  To date 30.81. All of last year 26.68

I don't think those figures apply to Lakeside, at least my part of Lakeside. The website that you are referring to says we got over 9 inches in September whereas there were less than 4 inches here. The official weather stations at Lakeside are not included in that data. The lake level reflects that. I guess that weather stations close to the lake don't mirror the lake level as most of the lake's watershed is far to the east of the lake and depends more on when the dams on the Lerma river are opened. Anyway the lake level is low in comparison to the last 2 years and the lake level should be the best rain gauge.

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The lake level is influenced much more by rain to the east of us in the valleys where the Rio Lerma flows. 

Measuring the rainfall an a small area like the hobby station in Rancho Del Oro in no way tell us what the rainfall is over the entire lake basin, although it is a general indicator of the overall amount in the basin being above or below average.

Hopefully we will see another 50cm increase in lake levels to bring us up to  the last 2 year average. 

a Lake levels.JPG

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As a lakefront resident for 12+ years in lower SAT I can say confidentially that the lake is now at about AVERAGE for this time of year. I walk every day across the pedestrian bridge in front of my house and to the malecon, so I am seeing the levels daily and yearly. Does anyone remember when the old train station was under water 40+ years ago? I was on one of my first trips here and the Chapala pier was way under water also. And how about another trip oh, about 20 years ago, when you could hardly see the lake shore from the pier. Ups and downs but believe me, about NORMAL TODAY!

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14 hours ago, cedros said:

I don't think those figures apply to Lakeside, at least my part of Lakeside.

The weather station that states all the ajijicweather.com data resides in Rancho Del Oro (West Ajijic). So the figures do apply to Lakeside.

Rain storms here are usually "cloud specific" and "location specific" compared to other areas that might get sprinkles all day long. The equipment for the weather station is NOAA approved and is calibrated twice a year.

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15 minutes ago, mexbound said:

The weather station that states all the ajijicweather.com data resides in Rancho Del Oro (West Ajijic). So the figures do apply to Lakeside.

Rain storms here are usually "cloud specific" and "location specific" compared to other areas that might get sprinkles all day long. The equipment for the weather station is NOAA approved and is calibrated twice a year.

They apply to only that part of Lakeside. Rainfall varies greatly within short distances. The best rain gauge for the whole area is the lake itself.

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Rainfall is one factor.  How much excess water there is in the dams in the central pains area is another. If they get to full or nearly max capacity, they release excess as preventive measure to compromising those dams.  That's why often we'll see a dramatic increase later in the season. Recent new masses of lirio would suggest this is happening now as they come via the Lerma River at Ocotlan.

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And you cannot really judge if the lake is gong up or don by looking at one small area ether.. Yes the dams up streams are the one controllng the level of the lake..The rainfall up stream affect the areas upstreams and wether the water  is released or not, the rainfall locally is only a very small portion of the amount of water gong in . The rainfall chart  just posted  shows we have more water this year so far so so much for physical observations..

We got here in 2001 and everyone was telling us the lake was dying...things come and go...

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14 minutes ago, Natasha said:

Rainfall is one factor.  How much excess water there is in the dams in the central pains area is another. If they get to full or nearly max capacity, they release excess as preventive measure to compromising those dams.  That's why often we'll see a dramatic increase later in the season. Recent new masses of lirio would suggest this is happening now as they come via the Lerma River at Ocotlan.

Yes, excess water in the dams is generally caused by rainfall also. That is why you can't rely on rainfall figures in only one particular area.

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1 minute ago, bmh said:

And you cannot really judge if the lake is gong up or don by looking at one small area ether.. Yes the dams up streams are the one controllng the level of the lake..The rainfall up stream affect the areas upstreams and wether the water  is released or not, the rainfall locally is only a very small portion of the amount of water gong in . The rainfall chart  just posted  shows we have more water this year so far so so much for physical observations..

We got here in 2001 and everyone was telling us the lake was dying...things come and go...

They officially measure the lake level in at least 3 areas to get a better picture. That rainfall chart is only for one small area. Yes, come and go.

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8 hours ago, RickS said:

... I thought that Covid was keeping all the new ones at bay.  No new faces. Lots or rentals still available. Just the same ole tired crowd. 😇

Quite a few new renters the renting services say.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/1/2020 at 7:39 PM, gringohombre said:

As a lakefront resident for 12+ years in lower SAT I can say confidentially that the lake is now at about AVERAGE for this time of year. I walk every day across the pedestrian bridge in front of my house and to the malecon, so I am seeing the levels daily and yearly. Does anyone remember when the old train station was under water 40+ years ago? I was on one of my first trips here and the Chapala pier was way under water also. And how about another trip oh, about 20 years ago, when you could hardly see the lake shore from the pier. Ups and downs but believe me, about NORMAL TODAY!

That is certainly possible but not the whole picture. Lakes this size have seiches caused by wind and variations in atmospheric pressure. For example Lake Erie (which is much larger) has had seiches of 22 feet. Lake Chapala has had seiches of 30 centimeters-meaning water gets piled up in some areas and was 30 centimeters higher that the average. There used to be 22 stations around the lake to measure the water level as it can vary a lot from area to area depending on seiches. I don't know how many such stationsx there are now.

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