Originally published in Lake of the Woods Area News, Volume 55, Number 4, Fall 2025
The Lake of the Woods Control Board held its spring regulation meeting on June 11, 2025. The focus of this meeting was the development of a regulation strategy for the period of June to the end of October based on a review and analysis of basin conditions, hydrological and meteorological forecasts, as well as input from interest groups, First Nations and resource advisors.
Based on this review, the Board implemented a low flow strategy resulting from below normal precipitation in May and the forecast for a continuing lack of precipitation and low inflows to the Winnipeg River Drainage Basin including Lake of the Woods as we approached summer. Precipitation in May was in the 5th percentile, which means that only one month of May over a period of twenty years on average has had lower levels of rain. At the time of the Board meeting in June, levels were in the normal range for the time of year (322.87 m / 1059.3 ft), and approximately consistent with the chart datum on your nautical charts of 1059.0 ft (322.78 m). This was primarily due to above normal precipitation in April. However, by June levels for Lake of the Woods as well as Rainy and Namakan Lakes, the main contributors for Lake of the Woods inflow at the southern part of the basin were all declining.
The extremely low precipitation beginning in May continued into June and most of July. Many readers of this column are aware that these dry conditions also resulted in the continuation of large wildfires in Ontario, Manitoba and other areas of western Canada resulting in the smoke and poor air quality conditions we experienced during the spring and into July.
During July, there was some relief from the dry conditions with localized rainfall including thunderstorms in many parts of the basin. This precipitation helped to stabilize lake levels. Lake of the Woods however, continued to remain at the lower end of the targeted range. At the time of writing this article in the third week of July, the level of Lake of the Woods was 322.80 m (1059.0 ft), which was the lower level of the normal and targeted range of 322.78 to 322.09 m (1059.0 – 1060.0 ft) for summer and early fall. The Board and Secretariat will continue to target this level as we move towards fall, however this will be dependent on an increase of precipitation and resulting inflows.
On June 10, the Control Board held a public information session to provide an overview of the Control Board mandate as well as its approach to flow regulation within the Winnipeg River Basin. This public session was the most recent of similar meetings that are held in various communities throughout the watershed. This year, the public meeting was held in Sioux Narrows at the Northern Ontario Sport Fishing Centre. The session, which included a comprehensive presentation was well attended with many very good questions and resulting discussion clarifying the work of the Board as well as its approach and the challenges of regulating water levels in this complex lake-river system. The Board would like to thank all who attended the session and provided their perspectives and input regarding its work and activities.
Have a great fall at the lake. Please keep up to date on local conditions and remember to consider the varying levels of the lake due to changing weather and wind tides. For up-to-date information on the work of the Control Board please visit the web site at lwcb.ca.
