PELICAN LAKE 2025
March 28 - The winter has been drier than normal and there has already been enough melt to create a little runoff. The lake has risen almost an inch in the last two weeks.
April 10 - The lake is rising fairly quickly and there's still snow east and northwest of the lake.
April 12- See most recent satellite photo below. Based on the drop at the south gauge it appears one or two gates were opened yesterday.
April 13- Both gauges are reading incorrectly. The level is likely about 1351.6 but that's a guess.
April 22- Looks like the lake has hit the summer target 1351.7, just slightly above the median level for this date since 1994. The lake is still rising very slowly.
April 29- The lake is free of ice. It appears the level is about 1351.85 but getting harder to get a good level with the wind.
May 16- Over an inch of rain the last few days. There seems to be some difficulty with the south gauge but the level is probably over 1352. The outlet gates are closed.
May 30- There hasn't been much evaporation yet but looks hot and dry for a little while. The level is 1352.1. It has been higher than this level 9 times on this date since 1954. Going back to 1954 the median level for this date is 1351.1. Normally the lake loses about 1.5 inches in June. Before 1977 the average level for this date was 1351.4 and after 1996 it was 1351.45.
July 1- Evaporation is starting to be quite high. The level, 1351.85, is still about 4 inches higher than the median level since the project was completed, 1351.51 or about 8 inches higher than the median level for this date since 1954.
August 1- Except for the smoke from fires in northern Manitoba July has been uneventful. The level has remained well above normal, 1351.88, about 2 inches above the upper decile level for this date since 1994 and 7.6 inches above normal. It is 1.26 feet above the average level since 1954 for August 1.
August 18- The level is 1351.86, it has been higher than the previous maximum recorded level since August 8 for the years since 1981. The previous high for August 18 was about an inch lower in 1969. The lowest level was in 1991 at 1346.1.
September 1- The level is 1351.66. The highest level recorded (since1954) for this date was 1351.86 in 1969. So not quite a record.
October 1- The level is 1351.55, the third highest level for this date since 1954. Growing degree days since May 1 (days above 5 degrees) was 1670, 105% of normal and precipitation was 312 mm since May 1, 106% of normal. So except for smoke a pretty normal year.
The inflow was 8829 acre feet, 90% of the normal inflow since 1954 but only 53% of the average annual inflow since 1995. The runoff of 8829 acre feet is equivalent to 0.67 inches of water over the entire watershed, 247 square miles and 13.75 inches on the lake.
October 3- Gates have been opened to slowly lower the lake to a freezeup level of about 1350.75. There is more information on the documents page.
October 9- It looks like the lake is dropping 0.02 feet per day. This is equivalent to a flow of 2.1(75 cubic feet per second) cubic meters per second. At this rate it will take about 50 days to reach the 1350.75 target if it doesn't rain.
October 14- Despite a light northwest breeze last night the south gauge reads lower than the north gauge. I think this discrepancy likely started when the gates were opened (may have been earlier). I have added 0.2 feet to levels after October 4. I think this is more accurate.
