(Spirit Lake)– All of the rain we’ve received in recent weeks is quickly adding up. As of 7:00 am this (Wed.) morning, 7.28 inches has been recorded so far for the month of July here at the KUOO studios. Last year, only 2.25 inches of rain fell for the entire month.
While all the rain so far this summer has increased levels of the Iowa Great Lakes, Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret says so far, at least, there’s no cause for alarm…
“Fortunately the heavy, heavy rains have been spotty, not widespread like we had last year, so that has helped. And then it’s also helping, maybe a day or two of rain and then we get two, three, four days in the middle where it doesn’t rain so things have a chance to kind of dry out and move downstream and so forth.”
Nonetheless, Ehret says they are continuing to closely monitor levels.
As of 8:30 this (Wed.) morning, the Okoboji Chain of Lakes stood at 4.59 feet. The ordinary high water mark for the Okoboji’s is 6.54 feet. The 4.59 foot level is 1.61 feet below the 6.2 mark that triggers the 5 mph emergency rule.
Big Spirit Lake this (Wed.) morning was at 14.52 feet. The ordinary high water mark for Big Spirit is 15.15 feet. The 14.52 foot level is 1.47 feet below the 16 foot mark that triggers the 5 mph emergency rule for that lake.
