MAIN POINTS
- LAKES HAVE ONLY SEEN MINIMAL RISE: Both Canyon and Medina up only 1 foot
- INCREASED FLOW ON RIVERS: Guadalupe and Comal are seeing elevated flow
- WATER QUALITY AFFECTED ALONG TX COAST: Low water quality heads downstream
Thursday’s rainfall made history, setting numerous records from single-day rainfall to greatest rainfall in one hour in San Antonio. That water is now dispersing into our various waterways. It just so happens to coincide with Father’s Day weekend. Here’s what you need to know if you plan to float, fish, or just stay cool.
MEDINA & CANYON LAKE
If you were hoping that Medina would fill up, unfortunately, this was not nearly enough rain and not in the correct spot for that to happen. Plus, it often takes time for our area lakes to make big gains. We’ll likely need much more rainfall to see any significant gains. Medina remains below 3% full, while Canyon only saw a rise of around 1 foot after Thursday’s rainfall.
CALAVERAS LAKE
Planning to do some fishing on Calaveras Lake? The lake often doesn’t respond much to heavy rainfall when it comes to its level. But it does suffer from poor water quality because of runoff. Sometimes, after heavy rain events, there can be fish kills due to dissolved oxygen.
RIVER UPDATE
COMAL RIVER
The Comal River closed to recreation on Thursday due to the river flow rising to nearly 7,000 cubic feet per second! To give you some perspective, recreation is usually shut down when flow reaches 1,000 cfs.
The river is much calmer today, with the latest flow around 200 cfs. This is good for floating. Just know that water quality may be down a bit because of runoff.
GUADALUPE RIVER
The Guadalupe has also seen significant rises. Flow yesterday topped 2,000 cfs at the gauge in New Braunfels. As of Friday morning, it has fallen back to around 200 cfs. You’ll be moving a bit faster now if you plan to go tubing.
WATER QUALITY
As we mentioned above, water quality always suffers after big rain events in San Antonio. All of the city’s gunk gets washed into the San Antonio River. That then flows downstream, all the way to San Antonio Bay in the Gulf.
So, that leads to a random aside when it comes to Father’s Day. Fishing could be affected along the coast due to poor water quality feeding into the Gulf.
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