GAINESVILLE, Ga. - State climatologist David Stooksbury says Lake Lanier should remain at a high level through the summer.

The lake's summer full pool elevation of 1,071 feet above sea level took effect Sunday. The lake has remained around that mark since early February. The last time the lake dropped below 1,070 feet, its winter full pool, was Feb. 4.

Stooksbury says the lake is big enough so that the water level doesn't start getting low unless the area experiences multiyear droughts.

Earlier this year, the Hall County area fell into a mild drought, believed to be the result of a La Nina atmospheric pattern that produces drier than normal conditions. Spring rains then broke the drought.

Stooksbury says drought conditions remain for middle and south Georgia.