Prayers for Lake Meredith and the Canadian River Watershed

We are praying for rain to develop over the Canadian River Watershed in order to replenish Lake Meredith and therefore the major water supply source for 11 communities across the South Plains, including Lubbock.  This watershed is a 6,050 square mile target in portions of the Texas panhandle and areas of northeastern New Mexico.

Here are thirteen options for you to collect important information about Lake Meredith and the Canadian River Watershed:

1.  Click here for a map of the Lake Meredith Watershed area. This shows the area over which heavy rains impact the water level of Lake Meredith.

2.  Click here for FAQs about Lake Meredith provided by the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority.

3.  Click here for USGS real time Lake elevation.  The graph that will appear shows the lake elevation over the last seven days, including the current reading.  The elevation (altitude) is the measure, not the depth, so to find the depth, you must subtract 2813 ft to see the current depth of the lake.

4.  Click here for a Google map of Lake Meredith. you can zoom in or pan out to see the lake relative to Fritch, Amarillo and the panhandle of Texas.

5.  Here is a map from www.weather.com  showing a 36 hour precipitation forecast for the U. S. After you look at the Lake Meredith portion of the watershed above, you can begin to know where to look in the Texas panhandle and New Mexico for rain possibilities in the Canadian River Watershed.

6.  Below are forecasts for places located within the portion of the Canadian River Watershed which empties into Lake Meredith.  Click on them to see the forecast for that location:  Boys Ranch, Texas;  Bard, New Mexico;  Marsh, Texas;  Texline, Texas;  Clayton, New Mexico;  Nara Visa, New Mexico

7.  These locations are on the edge of the Watershed.  Rainfall here may make its way to Meredith depending on exactly where it falls:  Dalhart, TX;  Fritch, TX;  Dumas, TX;  Amarillo, TX;  Tucumcari, New Mexico

8.  Click here for a precipitation map for the northern Texas Panhandle.  This shows the amount of rainfall received during the previous 24-hour period from 7:00AM to 7:00AM in the panhandle of Texas.  Click here to see archival daily reports of precipitation. (See option #1 to note the exact location of the Canadian River Watershed to determine if the rainfall will flow into Lake Meredith.

9.  Here is a TXDOT page of webcams in the Amarillo area. The two locations (marked VC) on HWY 287 north of Amarillo are within the Canadian River Watershed.  The camera locations on I-40 and I -27 are just south of the watershed.  Since we can't look out our window and see if it is raining in the right area, these cameras help us see what's going on.

10.  Click here for the KVII 7 News Sky Cam in Amarillo.  (after going to this page, click on the sky cam tab above the radar image) Remember that most of the rainfall in Amarillo runs into the Red River Basin, however rainfall north of the city and west of the northern part of the city flows to Lake Meredith.  The SKY cam may not necessarily be facing the North west but it also gives a view of the sky and weather surrounding Amarillo.

11.  Click here for MAX Radar image of the Canadian River Watershed region from KVII 7 Online, Amarillo.  By the way, the area covered by KVII MAX Radar includes the Lubbock area so on click here and you can check the weather over the Canadian River Watershed as well as over Lubbock.

12. Click here to see data on the effects of La Nina on Texas precipitation.  What is La Nina?

13. Click here to see data on the effects of El Nino on Texas precipitation.  What is El Nino?