Lake Conroe full for first time since April 2010

Lake Conroe full for first time since April 2010

People who live, play and work around Lake Conroe have been upbeat for a couple years, since the lake has been within 2 to 3 feet of full.

This week, however, there's reason to break out the champagne: For the first time since April 25, 2010, Lake Conroe is at its full depth of 201 feet.

"When we get within a couple feet of being full, everyone's pretty happy," said Jace Houston, general manager of the San Jacinto River Authority, which oversees Lake Conroe. "People's docks are typically easy to access anywhere within 2 feet of being full."

But the full 201 feet is a symbolic milestone, Houston said, because there seemed to be a fear that the lake might not fill up completely again.

"It's just a relief to know that, even though we're not at normal rainfall, we can still fill up," Houston said.

Normally by this time of year, the Lake Conroe area would have had about 18 inches of rain. This year, the total so far is only about 12 inches and the area remains in drought, Houston said.

"The good news is we're going into the summer with the lake full," he said.

By August, when it's hot, dry and windy, the lake will likely be losing an inch to 1.5 inches per week, he said. But starting summer with the lake full will lessen the impact of that loss, especially if fall brings cooler, wetter conditions, he said.

What produced the fill-up was the rain on May 12, which brought 1.5 to 3.5 inches to the area around the lake, Houston said.

In earlier years, a 3-inch rain was not unusual, but Houston said the past four years have brought probably only a dozen such events.

This is the first time since the lake was completed in 1973 that it has gone four years without being full.

To finally crack 201 feet has brought a lot of smiles to residents, said Tony Williams, store manager at Stowaway Marina and RV Park on the north end of the lake.

"Everybody is happy, happy, happy," Williams said. "After the rains we just had, it's above pool. It's a beautiful sight."

Many people live on the lake with lakefront property, he said.

"It's really great for them and it's good for the fishing," Williams said. "If it will stay up, it will do wonders for the lake."

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