While Tullahoma and the rest of Tennessee received a plentiful amount of rainfall this past week, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is reminding residents that the state is still in a drought, which has impacted the lakes.

Earlier in May, Coffee County and the surrounding counties were at an intensity level of D2 (severe drought), according to Ben Heath, a representative of the TVA River Forecast Center. At the time, other counties in the Tennessee Valley were at D3 (extreme drought). Since the rainfall, parts of Coffee County are in D0 (abnormally dry) to D1 (moderately dry) as of June 2.  

“It’s really early to be this dry,” Heath said.

Heath said so far, the rainfall has been about 70% normal, but for TVA, they are looking at the runoff, the amount of rain that runs off into the lake streams, and what goes into the lakes.

“That number’s at about 45% for 2026, so less than half,” Heath said.

Heath said TVA was going into 2026 knowing it was dry, and normally waits until the start of April to start filling reservoirs. But TVA decided to be proactive and started to fill reservoirs early by collecting any runoff produced from the rain.

“Mother Nature’s been a little stingy with us,” Heath said. “Now, we’re really close to the summer season, we’re trying to get up to summer elevations, and we’re not quite there.”

While Coffee County is in a moderate drought, Heath said the lakes will look different as the elevations will be lower when compared to last year.

“They’re about three to four feet below where we would like for them to be,” Heath said. “We have done everything we can do. We’ve held on to every drop that we could hold onto.”

As for what residents should be mindful of while on the lake, Heath said to watch out for lower boat ramps and exposed hazards like rocks, sandbars, and other hazards that would normally have several feet of water over them.

“We encourage people to know their lakes, understand that the reservoirs aren’t where they were last year, and that definitely could expose a few more challenges,” Heath said. “Keep an eye on what you’re doing because things are lower.”

TVA Communications Representative Scott Brooks added that this includes coves that residents use to tie up on or anchor on every year.

“You got to make sure you’ve checked your surroundings because it may look a little different,” Brooks said. “A few feet of water can make a big difference if you’re jumping into a swimming hole or something, and a year ago the water was higher and you had a little more clearance.”

Brooks added that TVA is also monitoring hydro production at its dams, as it has been holding back water at its hydro times, which Tims Ford Lake, since February.

“Every drop of water that falls out of the sky, we run it through as many generators as we can before it leaves the system, and so that makes it our cheapest form of generation,” Brooks said. “We’re a little below where we would normally be this time of year because we’ve been trying to hold onto as much water instead of running it through the generators. So, that means we’re using more expensive generation to replace that natural gas purchasing power.”

Brooks said that hydro power only affects 10% of TVA’s generation, which he said, while it’s only impacting a fraction of TVA’s power, TVA is still watching and will see what happens over the summer.

“Hydro production is not as much of an impact, but it’s still affecting it,” he said. “We have to be at a very severe level for it to be anything.”

Heath said the dams are always releasing minimum flows, even during droughts, as if TVA shuts off the dams, it will impact the habitat downstream.

“You have to keep the river system healthy, and the way you do it is by keeping the river flowing,” Heath said. “Those minimum flows are what we always keep, and then the extra flow is what produces the power. This year that extra power won’t be happening unless the drought improves, so we’ll, we will be sticking to minimum flows all summer long.”

For more information, visit tva.com or download the TVA Lake Info app, which is available on all mobile app stores.