Since a devastating 2007-09 drought that produced record low levels, Lake Lanier has rebounded at times but never kept consistently high levels, a study of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers data shows.On Saturday evening, Lanier stood at 1,061.48 feet above sea level, with full pool at 1,071 feet.The last time Lanier was lower than it is now was Jan. 21, as the lake, at that time, was starting to rise after three months of levels below or hovering around 1,060 feet.And for this time of the year, Lanier hasn’t been this low since 2008, when the lake stood at 1,055 feet and the area was in the deepest throes of drought. The lake hit its historic low of 1,050.79 feet on Dec. 26, 2007.Full pool was last reached on May 1, 2011.“It is expected that the water level at Lake Lanier will continue to decline as drought conditions persist throughout the Southeast,” officials stated in a news release last week.The corps’ Mobile District website bears that out, forecasting that the lake will drop to 1,060.8 feet by Oct. 12.The weather has been mostly dry lately, including dodging the remnants of Tropical Storm Isaac and rain that was supposed to usher in a recent cold front. Further, according to the corps, much of the summer’s rain — occasionally big doses of it — has fallen in the wrong places.“You need it to rain north of the lake and on the northern third of the lake to really see any difference,” spokesman Patrick Robbins said in an August interview.The U.S. Drought Monitor, which tracks conditions throughout the country, shows that Hall County is experiencing moderate to severe drought.