LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The wet fall and early winter are helping water supplies locally and around the state.

The rains over the last several weeks have pushed the level of Clear Lake up to its highest measure in more than a decade, according to lake records provided by Lake County Water Resources.

At the start of December Clear Lake went form roughly 2 feet Rumsey – the special measure used just for Clear Lake – to 5.25 feet Rumsey as of early Christmas morning, according to the US Geological Survey’s lake gauge.

That’s nearly twice the lake’s depth on Christmas 2011, and higher than all lake levels for Dec. 24 from 2001 through 2012, based on available records.

US Geological Survey gauges on streams around the county also show much increased depths.

Casse Forczek of Kelseyville has watched Kelsey Creek swell to the point of nearly overrunning its banks twice in the past month.

She shared a photo of the creek from earlier this week, which can be seen below, at the point of nearly overflowing.

Elsewhere in the state, rain and snow are helping California’s snowpack – a major water source for the state’s water users – bulk up.

Snowpack measurements provided through the California Department of Water Resources’ California Data Exchange Center early Tuesday showed that the statewide snowpack to be 119 percent of normal.

Showing how quickly such numbers can change, it had been at 140 percent of normal on Monday, Department of Water Resources data showed.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.