Lake Stamford

Construction for Lake Stamford and Stamford Dam started July 14, 1951, and was completed in March 1953. Deliberate impoundment began in June 1953. Stamford Dam impounds Paint Creek, but numerous other creeks flow into the lake. Horse, Buffalo, and Mule Creeks all flow directly into the lake and are part of the watershed. The design engineer for the project was Freese and Nichols and the general contractor was L. & S. Contractor. The dam is an earthfill embankment 3,600 feet (1,100 m) long with a maximum height of 78 feet (24 m). The estimated cost of the dam was $289,365.00. The top of Stamford Dam is at an elevation of 1,434.0 feet (437.1 m) and is 15.2 feet (4.6 m) above the spillway. The service spillway is 900 feet (270 m) north of the dam, where the uncontrolled spillway crest is 100 feet (30 m) in length at an elevation of 1,416.8 feet (431.8 m).[2] Lake Stamford is considered "full" (maximum desired capacity) when the lake's water level is 1,416.8 feet (431.8 m) above mean sea level.

At the height of the drought in 2000, a water diversion project on California Creek was built to divert future rainfall from the creek to Lake Stamford, in an effort to supplement the lake's primary inflow of Paint Creek. The project consisted of a channel dam, pump station, and pipeline,[7] and cost an estimated $6.3 million.[8] California Creek runs from west of Hamlin to north of Corinth and Avoca, and then turns northeast and runs parallel to Lake Stamford at a distance around 2.5 mi (4.0 km). California Creek does not flow directly into Lake Stamford, but meets with Paint Creek one mile downstream (east) of Stamford Dam. The drainage area for California Creek is 478 sq mi (1,240 km²), which supplements Lake Stamford's watershed of 368 sq mi (950 km²).[9] Water is only diverted at sporadic intervals when there is sufficient flow in California Creek.

Approximate Lake Stamford watershed (including California Creek diversion)

Lake Stamford, June 2007, at capacity

Since impoundment in June 1953 and initial filling, the lowest water level ever in Lake Stamford occurred on April 13, 2015. The lake was 17.42 feet (5.31 m) below conservation pool elevation, held 5,013 acre feet (6,183,000 m³) of water, and was 9.7% full.

Two prior periods of drought produced what were, at the time, record lows. The second-lowest water level occurred on four days in October 2000. On October 20, 2000, the lake was 15.8 feet (4.8 m) below conservation pool elevation, held 6,760 acre feet (8,340,000 m³) of water, and was 13.1% full.[11] The third-lowest lake level occurred on August 3, 1978, when the lake was 27.7% full.[12]

Lake Stamford (boat ramp and dock), June 2013, 21% full

Two days after recording its third-lowest level, the lake surged to its second-highest level ever. On August 5, 1978, the water in Lake Stamford was 5.38 feet (1.64 m) above the spillway. This represents an increase over 15.2 feet (4.6 m) in less than 48 hours, the lake's fastest-ever change in elevation.[12] In fact, the rise was so fast. it took some three hours for the lake to simply fill to capacity by increasing almost 10 feet (3.0 m).[5] This was due to remnants of Tropical Storm Amelia. Though Amelia was weak and poorly organized, as it dissipated over Texas, it cause severe flooding.

On August 4, 1978, Stamford received its daily all-time record rainfall of 8.22 inches (209 mm).[13] That same day, 29.05 inches (738 mm) fell on nearby Albany, the record daily rainfall for the entire state of Texas.[14] Also, the nearby California Creek had a peak discharge of 40,000 cubic feet (1,100 m³) per second and a flood stage height of 31.0 feet (9.4 m), the highest since at least 1897. President Carter declared Haskell county, among counties in Texas, a disaster area.[15] The lake receded down to the spillway by August 19, 1978.

Lake Stamford elevation changes from 2005-2013 (green), record high (purple), high levels (blue), low level (red)

Since the drought in 2000, the lake has reached (and exceeded) capacity on three occasions. The first event happened very rapidly when, between August 13 and 16, 2005, the lake rose 13.53 feet (4.12 m).[16] During the month of August 2005, the City of Stamford received 10.64 inches (270 mm) of rain.[17] Most of the rain was concentrated during the aforementioned four days, with the city receiving 4.52 inches (115 mm) on August 14, 2005, alone.[13] On August 17, 2005, these rains put the lake overcapacity by 9.38 feet (2.86 m) with the surface elevation of 1,426.18 ft (434.70 m) and resulted in the record high water level for Lake Stamford. This caused extensive flooding to more than 340 homes, resulting in a disaster area declaration by Governor Perry.[18] Water levels dropped back below the spillway on November 28, 2005.

Lake Stamford (boat ramp), June 2007, at capacity

The second event was not so much an event as a period. The preponderance of this period's rains were north and west of Stamford, near Haskell and Hamlin.[19] Starting in late April 2007, the area received enough rain to raise the lake by about 4.4 feet (1.3 m) by the first week of June, filling the lake just shy of capacity.[20] Then in June 2007, Stamford received 6.37 inches (162 mm) of rain[21] and by July 3, the lake was overcapacity by about 1.6 feet (0.49 m). As the lake was dropping back down to capacity (less than 4 inches (100 mm) above the spillway), Stamford received an additional 4.85 inches (123 mm) of rain on August 18, 2007,[13] from Tropical Storm Erin. The lake crested on August 21 to 2.35 feet (0.72 m) above capacity, and then dropped back below the spillway on November 14, 2007.

Beginning the last week of January 2010, the area received two to three times its average monthly precipitation, and February had notable snowfall. This increased the lake by just under 2.5 feet (0.76 m) by mid-March.

Then on April 17, 2010, Stamford received 4.65 inches (118 mm) of rain[13] and a total of 6.38 inches (162 mm) for the month.[22] By April 21, lake levels crested at 1.98 feet (0.60 m) above capacity, having increased by 3.49 feet (1.06 m). Additional rain events in June and September each moved the lake overcapacity again by less than 1 foot (0.30 m). Water levels eventually dropped below the spillway on December 5, 2010, the last time Lake Stamford was full until July 10, 2015.[10]