Lake Lanier rises nearly 2 feet since early Tuesday

Lake Lanier continued its rapid rise Wednesday, as full rivers and streams poured in.

By 10:15 a.m., Lanier had risen nearly two feet since early Tuesday. The lake’s elevation was 1,055.16 feet above sea level. That’s higher than the lake was this time last year, but still more than 13 feet below its average elevation.

Lanier, a federal reservoir that supplies most of metro Atlanta’s water, has not been full since October 2005.

Another metro Atlanta water source — Lake Allatoona — also rose dramatically with this week’s rain. Allatoona had gained six feet by 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.

But unlike Lanier, Allatoona had rebounded last year from the worst of the 2007 drought’s effects. Allatoona, which holds less than one-fifth the water of Lanier, refills much faster.

In November, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates both Lanier and Allatoona, had drawn down Allatoona to prepare for potential winter floods. The move was paying off this week, as the corps held back water in Allatoona to prevent further flooding downstream in Rome.

John Feldt, hydrologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service’s Southeast River Forecast Center, said conditions had been primed for a big gain at Lanier, the region’s primary water source. The ground was saturated from earlier rain, evaporation is minimal, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the federal reservoir, is holding most of the water in Lanier to help it recover.

“It was just perfect,” Feldt said.

And also, perfectly normal.

When the region gets an average amount of rain in the winter, Lanier generally rises about 7 feet between November and April.

Through March, Feldt is predicting average rain, or more than metro Atlanta has seen during the past two winters.