SAWTELLE TIKI CLUBFIELD NOTES & LOCAL KNOWLEDGECORCORAN FIELD GUIDE
VOL. 01 / WATER WATCH
Satellite mosaic of Corcoran and the agricultural Tulare Lake basin
SAWTELLE TIKI CLUB · TULARE BASIN, CALIFORNIA

Keep an eye
on the water.

Corcoran Flood Watch

Explore the map ↗Try a spring runoff scenario →
LOCAL GROUND.
BIG-PICTURE
perspective.
Esri satellite mosaic · acquisition dates vary · not a current flood image
36° N / 119° W
THE SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
01 THE BASIN02 THE LEVEES03 THE NEIGHBORHOODPUBLIC SOURCES · DATED OBSERVATIONS
NWS ALERT CHECK

Checking the NWS feed…

For awareness, not emergency decisions. Follow NWS Hanford and Kings County emergency guidance. Terrain comparisons do not predict flooding or establish safety.
01 / A LITTLE BASIN MATH

What if spring sends more water?

EXPLORER · HYPOTHETICAL
SCHEMATIC CROSS-SECTIONNOT A SURVEY OR FLOOD MAP
Hypothetical basin water storageAn illustrative basin fills as assumed retained runoff increases. The levee and Corcoran are schematic and have no surveyed heights.LAKEBED STORAGELEVEEheight unverifiedCORCORANschematic terrainASSUMED AVERAGE ADDED DEPTH2.5 ft
Water changes with your assumptions. No inundation boundary or levee overtopping is calculated.
250,000acre-feet retained
÷
100,000assumed acres
=
2.5 ftaverage added depth
02 million acre-feet

These are adjustable examples, not measured starting conditions. Runoff, routing, pumping, evaporation, gates and changing surface area determine actual storage and water levels.

The lakebed is not one flat bowl. Separate storage cells, uneven ground and levees control how water collects. A terrain elevation, a lake water level and a river gauge stage are different measurements.

Explore published lake-cell elevation & storage tables

2024 cell tables hosted by the State Water Board. Separate cells are not the whole lake. These tables do not show today's water level, inundation extent or levee condition.

02 / THE LAY OF THE LAND

From the lakebed to Corcoran.

Satellite imagery, levee alignments & mapped flood zones.

Pan and zoom; tap a point to query USGS ground elevation. Gold lines: USACE levee alignments. Blue: FEMA high-hazard zones. Purple: mapped 0.2%-annual-chance or levee-related zones. These are not forecast flooding. Open USGS map ↗

Corcoran overview. John Muir is a public school landmark; no residence is identified.

Loading official map layers…

Current flood footprint: not verified. No current Corcoran inundation forecast has been obtained. Reservoir and snowpack observations below do not determine where water will reach. Levee lines show mapped alignments; current heights and condition are unverified.
How to interpret these scenarios

The slider is an assumed absolute water-surface elevation in feet. It is not a lake observation, river-gauge stage, flood probability, inundation model, or evacuation boundary. A simple subtraction cannot account for levees, connectivity, drainage, reservoir releases, or subsidence.

USGS returns terrain elevation, not finished-floor height. The personal estimate has an unverified vertical datum and date. Compare elevations only after confirming compatible vertical datums and a current survey. A positive difference does not establish flood protection.

USGS elevation service · FEMA official flood maps · NOAA National Water Prediction Service

NOAA / NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

Corcoran weather & alerts

Official forecast ↗

Point forecast and alerts use central Corcoran, not a property location. Alerts may change between checks.

UPSTREAM CONDITIONS

Reservoirs & Sierra snowpack

Storage is a volume in acre-feet, not a flood elevation at Corcoran. Values are provisional; reservoir operations and routing matter.

THE RECORD

Weekly dated reports

Archived snapshots

Each report preserves its generation date and source dates. Missing observations are identified; reports do not assign a flood-risk score.

Version history