According to data published by the Israel Water Authority Thursday, the Sea of Galilee’s water level stands at a 27-year high for the start of September, at 209.535 meters (687 feet) below sea level.

That is the highest it’s been since 1993, when the water level reached 209.33 meters (686 feet) below sea level during the same period.

The maximum level for the Sea of Galilee is 208.8 meters below sea level (73.5 centimeters above the current level). This is the so-called upper red line, above which the water body would be in danger of overflowing.

As recently as 2018, the Water Authority warned that the Sea of Galilee was drying up as a result of low rainfall and was approaching the “black line,” below which damage to the water quality from silt and other problems is likely to begin.

However, as of March this year, rainfall had been so plentiful that the water level rose by 2.63 meters (8.6 feet) since January.

If water nears the upper red line, authorities will open the dam at Kibbutz Degania in the lake’s south, allowing water to flow into the Jordan River.

Torrential downpours in northern Israel earlier this year broke decades-old records.

Header: In this Saturday, April 25, 2020 photo, a bird swims where dry land used to be in the Sea of Galilee, locally known as Lake Kinneret. After an especially rainy winter, the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel is at its highest level in two decades, but the beaches and major Christian sites along its banks were empty at that time as authorities imposed a full lockdown. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Source: TOI Staff