Storms continue to push through Northern California but room remains in area reservoirs
The latest in a series of winter storms moving through the Sacramento area Friday is filling Northern California rivers and reservoirs, but storage remains in the region’s dams including at Folsom and at Oroville, where state water officials began releasing water earlier this week.
Folsom Dam on the American River was at 48% of capacity, or 469,201 acre-feet, monitors at the California Department of Water Resources reported about 9 a.m. Thursday. At an elevation of about 413 feet, the reservoir is at 103% of its historical average, water managers said.
On the Feather River, Oroville Dam stood at 83% of capacity at 2.85 million acre-feet at an elevation of 861 feet, or 137% of its historical average. Department of Water Resources officials opened Oroville Dam’s main spillway Monday morning for the first time in 2025, setting releases at 35,000 cubic feet per second after weekend storms raised water levels.
DWR, a state agency, is federally mandated to release water from Lake Oroville to maintain flood protection for communities downstream and set storage space to collect flows from rainfall and future snowmelt.
The Feather River was well within its banks at many monitoring stations below Lake Oroville, according to the California Nevada River Forecasting Center, including at Gridley and in Yuba City, where the river was at about 59 feet, 7 feet below its 66 feet monitor stage.
But the Feather rose to more than 2 feet above its 39 feet monitor stage farther downstream at Nicolaus in Sutter County by 10 a.m. Thursday. River forecasters expected waters there to hover above monitor stage into early next week.
River forecasters are watching the Yolo Bypass at Lisbon, expected to rise above its 13 feet monitor stage by Thursday evening on its way to minor flood stage by Saturday evening. Water began spilling into the bypass at Fremont Weir after the Sacramento River reached 32 feet on Tuesday evening. At noon Thursday, the weir not far from Knights Landing was just above 35 feet.
In the North Bay, forecasters and emergency personnel are keeping watch on the Russian River at Guerneville as storms return to Sonoma and Napa counties. The river was at 31 feet, or minor flood stage, at 11 a.m., about 5 feet below its Wednesday morning peak.
Meantime, smaller storage dams across the region were straining or exceeding capacity with more wet weather expected into Friday.
Indian Valley Reservoir on the north fork of Cache Creek in Lake County was at 94% of capacity Thursday, at nearly 280,700 acre-feet. Larger Lake Berryessa on Putah Creek in Napa County was nearly full, at 99%. At nearly 1.58 million acre-feet, the storage was just below the reservoir’s 1.6-million capacity.
In Yuba County, the 70,000 acre-foot Englebright Dam near Smartville was at 105% of capacity at nearly 73,300 acre-feet as of Thursday morning, according to state water resources officials.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Sacramento said a fast-moving, but colder weather system will push through the region into Friday afternoon. The system will bring less rain in the valley and Sierra foothills, but is expected to be a snowmaker in the higher elevations providing significant mountain snow said forecasters.
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 12:50 PM.
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