Barring an extreme rain event or unseasonably high temperatures, the flood risk for the Southern Lakes may have passed.

Ric Janowicz, the manager of the hydrology branch within Environment Yukon, says he expects the water levels to rise a few more centimetres as a result of warm weather which began Tuesday and is expected to continue through tomorrow.

But flood levels similar to those experienced in 2004 are no longer anticipated, he said in an interview this morning.

Last Saturday, water levels seemed to stabilize, even dropping a few centimetres since that evening, Janowicz said.

"We were supposed to get 60 mm last week. Well, that one missed us; we got 10 or 15 mm,” he said.

"If we got that 60, then it would have bounced right up, and it's possible that could happen, but it's not forecast.”

"I think after this warm weather of today and tomorrow, yesterday, that things should stabilize and start dropping.

"If it rains or gets really hot, but that's unlikely to happen because historically, temperatures start dropping off very rapidly at this time around mid-August, where we are now,” he said.

Last week, Janowicz explained that the Southern Lakes are primarily a glacial system, which is why the water level peaks late in the summer.

"It peaks after the heat of the summer temperatures, which are maximized in July,” he said.

But snowpack and rainfall also contribute to rising water levels.

In preparation for possible flooding, large sand bags, called Super Bags, were placed along Army Beach at Marsh Lake, including along the beach front of some high-risk properties.

Public access to the beach at Marsh Lake was also closed, and Pearson Road was raised to minimize the effects of any flooding.

As of last Thursday, 26,500 sandbags had been distributed around the Southern Lakes area.

Residents themselves also seemed to be more prepared for rising water levels after the extreme flooding in 2007.