Lake Murky water level

Fishing Clubs Midlands Striper Club
1

just confirmed the official word on the lake

they are sticking with the Jan 31 date to bring the level back up

that means clear skies starting next Friday for 2-3 months

it spiked up 3.5" when the rain started last night

Pioneer 197SF

2

I’ve received a few messages that Jan 31 is not correct. I can assure you it is correct. There will be a press release next week.

For those that follow the level more closely, it’s up to 350.3 this morning. The outflow was increased yesterday at about 10 PM after about 8 hours of less outflow. The level will be pushed back down, probably get there by Sunday.

It’s interesting how 0.8" of rain caused the lake to jump 4". The watershed is saturated and everything is running off, and Greenwood if flowing hard. If we’re lucky Greenwood will keep flowing after the 31st and that will accelerate the lake level rise.

Pioneer 197SF

3

If they increased the outflow, how much more will it drop?

4

i don’t know if this is a serious question or if you’re just messin with me

maybe what you meant was will it drop faster??

  • the outflow at the dam has to exceed all the inflows for the level to drop

  • Greenwood is flowing 3350 cfs, that comes straight to Murray

  • then there are all the inflows from creeks and general run off

  • outflow at the Murray dam is currently 6840 cfs

  • there is evaporation, the water plants removing water and untold number of other outflows

  • guessing that the net outflow is somewhere around 3200-3400 cfs

  • if one were motivated enough they could calculate the surface area of the lake and determine the rate that the water is dropping

  • it’s at 350.25 now, the net decrease in the last 13 hours was 0.6"

  • the rate of drop should rise a little today because the inflows have decreased

Now, if you really mean what you asked then …

  • if outflow is increased the rate of drop increases
  • it will continue dropping until the outflow is decreased or the inflow increases

Pioneer 197SF

5

Here is the press release from SCE&G.

https://www.sceg.com/about-us/newsroom/2019/01/29/lake-murray-begins-to-return-to-normal-level-this-week

6

Here we go. Outflow has been reduced to the normal range of 850-1000 cfs

Level this morning

Pioneer 197SF

7

Here it comes. Last 3 weeks it’s been a steady rise gaining about 2.5’, about 1.3" a day. Yesterday at 6 PM the flow from Greenwood increased from 1,250 CFS to 12,600 CFS.

The outflow from Murray has been steady at 775 CFS. Murray has jumped 2.5" in 11 hours. That’s the inflow from upstate where its rained much more than here. We may see 6" by midnight. That will continue while they are managing the level at Greenwood. I don’t know what level they try to control it to but it’s 1’ higher than in October, 2’ higher from January and 2’ higher from last March.

It’s likely we’ll be back to the normal winter level of 354’ or higher by the end of the week.

Pioneer 197SF

8

Went over Greenwood on 221 last evening and it was way up and muddy as can be! I’m sure the river below the dam is rageing with that flow!