The Fox River Status Update for October 16, 2025 is available at https://dnr.illinois.gov/waterresources/strattonoperationsupdate.html
SUMMARY
Due to construction needs at Chain O’Lakes State Park, the start of winter drawdown will be delayed until November 17th or when dredging is completed, whichever comes first. Due to the truncated timeframe, outflows will be higher than previous years. There is currently 2.00” of rain forecasted for the lakes over the next 7 Days (Figure 4). Inflows are forecasted to climb to over 1200 cfs on October 24th (Figure 1). Fox Lake, the Upper River, and Pool are all forecasted to be between 4.10’ and 4.15’ (Figure 2). The Lower River is expected to see a slight jump as flows increase (Figure 3).
Aaron Rotherham
Project Engineer
IDNR Office of Water Resources
(217)782-4615