A sunrise on our Clary_cam1 webcam was featured on the WMTW Channel 8 Weather this morning, though you had to get up pretty early to see it. I received an email yesterday from WMTW Meteorologist Ted Mcinerney seeking permission to highlight our webcams during their news forecast. Of course I gave permission! This morning I got an email from Ted with a couple of screenshots (above, and at left) from this morning’s 4:30 AM forecast (I believe the woman anchor in the picture is Meghan Torjussen, someone correct me if I’m wrong). Ted commented “These cameras are great!” I agree, and others agree as well: our webcams generate the most website traffic. Many thanks to Ted and WMTW!
Author Archives: George Fergusson
Lake Water Quality Monitoring Resumes for 2024
Kelsie French and I resumed our water quality monitoring efforts for 2024 on Sunday May 5th, a little earlier than in recent years. The lake is still largely homogenous with a surface temperature of 13.3°C (55.9°F) and 11.2°C at 8 meters. Surface DO was 11.3 mg/L and 8.4 mg/L at 8 meters. The Secchi disk reading was 3.55 meters (11.6 feet) which I guess is about normal for this time of year, but nothing to write home about. You can see where it lands on the chart at left (the sole data point, far to the right, in the 2024 column right below the red trendline). You can see a subset of water quality data including transparency going back to 2001 on our Clary Lake Water Quality Monitoring Data page. Today the water was kind of murky. Despite being early in the season, there’s already phytoplankton, primarily diatoms, populating the lake. As the water warms up, the diatoms will mostly die off to be replaced by green and blue-green algae later in the season. It’s really the blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) that we’re worried about. Blue-green algae is mostly a late summer and fall phenomena. Continue reading
2024 Clary Lake Watershed Survey Happened
After much planning and preparation, the 2024 Clary Lake Watershed Survey went off today without a hitch. Bolstered by strong coffee, homemade breakfast burritos, and donut holes, five survey teams headed out to inventory non point source pollution sites around Clary Lake’s 10 square mile watershed (picture at left). The survey was completed by early afternoon. Next steps include the preparation of a survey report and based on that, a Watershed Management Plan. It’s going to be a busy summer!
I’d like to thank DEP’s Greg Beane (center, above) for conducting and helping plan this survey and the other Team Leaders for their help today. We’d like to thank all the Whitefield and Jefferson property owners who cooperated in this survey by letting us onto their property. We would also especially like to thank the 17 Clary Lake Association members who volunteered their time today in furtherance of this important project; in no particular order: Brian Vogel, Charlene Andersen, Cheryl Smith, Daniel Burns, Dave Knight, Dee Ann Grazioso, Eric Sroka, George Fergusson, Margaret Fergusson, Mary Gingrow-Shaw, Julie Cowles, Steve Cowles, Kathryn Ference, Malcolm Burson, Megan Breece, Carolyn Curtis, and Paul Devlin. Thank You!
Banner Highlights
Usually the header image/banner on the website rotates randomly. Once in a while I highlight a new banner image for day or two. It’s actually been quite a while since I posted a “Banner Highlights” post. Danny Bell sent me a panorama photo he took of the sunset from what used to be the Antognoni camp on the south shore of Clary Lake. It was banner worthy. The picture at left is a full sized image of that same sunset.
April 2024 Water Level Chart Archived
I have archived the April 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). April was another wet month, though not nearly as wet as March had been: we received 4.62 inches of rain, 3/4 of an inch more than the 3.87 inches we’ve received in a “normal” year, whatever that means. Most of that rain fell by the 12th of the month, only a little over a half inch fell during the rest of the month. This allowed the ground was to dry out a bit. For the year we’re at 20.58 inches of precipitation, a little more than 7 inches above average for this date. This bodes well for ground water supplies later this summer. All this water has kept the lake level generally higher than we like: March actually ended with the lake level 0.31 feet above the High Water Mark or fully 6 inches ABOVE the lowest spot on the top of the dam. When the lake is that high, there is a real risk of shoreline erosion in areas around the lake that are not protected by a rocky shoreline. However, managing the dam to maintain a specific lake level is a real challenge and the response to a change in gate opening or weir height can be maddeningly slow. It’s too easy to over shoot the mark, or fall short of it. Therefore, we try to avoid large gate and weir adjustments and take some time to bring the lake level up or down where we want it. Continue reading
Utah Takes Aquatic Invasive Species Decontamination Seriously!
Clary Lake Association member Alan Clark spends his summer’s here in Maine helping out with our Courtesy Boat Inspection program, the rest of the year he lives Utah. He was recently boating on Lake Powell on the Utah/Arizona border and sent me these pictures of an Aquatic Invasive Species decontamination station. Here on Clary Lake we’re primarily concerned with Aquatic Invasive Plants, but in Utah, they’re also on the lookout for invasive animals, particularly Quagga Mussels and Rusty Crawfish. It is only a matter of time before we too will be on the lookout for invasive animals, and we’ll likely have similar decontamination facilities installed at Maine boat launches. There’s plenty to be on the lookout for; here’s a link to the Maine DEP Advisory List of Invasive Aquatic Species.
2024 Watershed Survey Update
Plans for the 2024 watershed survey are well underway. We applied for a grant from Maine Lakes and Lake Stewards of Maine to help cover the cost of the project and yesterday we received a nice letter (at left) and a $350 check from them. We’re especially grateful for the support of these two organizations; the total cost of the project is expected to be around $2000 so this financial assistance is most welcome. If you have trouble reading the letter, here’s a link to a PDF.
We have approximately 15 volunteers gearing up to assist with the survey; they’ll be undergoing training in the next couple of weeks. The survey itself will be conducted on Saturday, May 4th and letters have already been sent to approximately 350 people who own land in the Clary Lake watershed describing the project and giving them an opportunity to opt out of the survey if they wish. As stated in the letter, our volunteers are only interested in locating and documenting areas of significant non-point source pollution within our lake watershed. Once the survey is completed, a report will be prepared and recommendations made regarding how to fix the problems we have found. If necessary, we will work with landowners to find reasonable, cost-effective solutions. However, acting on our recommendations is completely voluntary and no one will be compelled to take any action. Information gathered in the survey will not be used for any regulatory purposes. We don’t expect many people to opt-out.
The featured image is a “Hillshade” image of the southeast end of Clary Lake. It shows ground relieve much better than aerial photographs. You can see several old gravel pits and gullies in stark relief. Images like this are being used to identify areas of interest in our watershed.
Maine Lakes in the Era of a Warming Climate Zoom Webinar
Many thanks to my friend Ross Swain for promoting this webinar. Ross runs Ellis Pond Sidekicks, a private Facebook group for people interested in Ellis Pond in Roxbury Maine. It’s a great group even if you don’t know where Ellis Pond is 🙂
A week from today Ellis Pond Sidekicks is sponsoring a free Zoom webinar presented by Scott Williams, a renowned lake scientist who has been involved in water quality issues at Roxbury Pond for over 30 years and state lake water issues for over 50 years. The webinar is called “Maine Lakes in the Era of a Warming Climate.” You don’t need to be a member of Ellis Pond Sidekicks to attend. The webinar will be on Friday, April 19 at 6:30pm. If you want to check it out you’ll need to register at this link. After you register, you’ll receive an email confirmation that includes a link to the webinar. The webinar isn’t going to be recorded.
I’ve known Scott Williams for many year and I consider him a personal friend and a valuable teacher, and I’m really looking forward to this webinar.
Register for the Maine Lakes in the Era of a Warming Climate webinar!
March 2024 Water Level Chart Archived
I have archived the March 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). The dearth of precipitation we saw in February did not continue into March. On the contrary, we ended up with 10.72 inches of precipitation making March 2024 the second wettest March on record, only slightly behind the 11.24 inches received in March 2010. “Normal” March precipitation in this area is around 3.77 inches but we received more than 2.8 times more than that. Even with the lack of rainfall we saw in February, we end the month with nearly 7 inches more annual precipitation than is normal for this date. March was also warmer and windier than usual which resulted in Clary’s ice cover melting off on March 8th, the earliest we’ve recorded since record keeping started in 2001. Continue reading
New Maine’s Most Unwanted Aquatic Plants Poster
Lake Stewards of Maine has released the latest “Maine’s Most Unwanted Aquatic Invasive Plants” poster. The previous version pictured 11 plants. This new one has pictured 15 plants. You can right click the image to view and download a full sized image, or click the image to view and download the file as a PDF. You’ll also find it in our Maps Charts & Graphs gallery.
Upcoming Spring Maine Lakes Webinars
Maine Lakes is putting on a number of webinars this spring on topics of potential interest to friends of Clary Lake. The two that grabbed my attention (highlighted below) are one on PFAS in Maine Lakes and Rivers, and one on Maine’s Newest Aquatic Threats. You’ll find more of interest including a notice for the Water and Sustainability Conference on March 29th on the Maine Lakes website: https://www.lakes.me/
PFAS in Maine Lakes and Rivers
Tom Danielson, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Thursday, April 11 at 5 p.m. Register HERE.
You have probably read about PFAS in the news lately as it relates to contaminated farmland. Tom Danielson of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will present information about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals”, in Maine’s lakes and rivers.
Maine’s Newest Aquatic Threats
Brett Willard and Christine Guerrette, Lake Stewards of Maine
Thursday, April 18 at 5 p.m. Register HERE.
In early 2023, four new plants were added to Maine’s watch list for potentially invasive aquatic plants. Since their addition, three new infestations of one of these new invaders have been discovered in Maine lakes, with likely more to come. In this webinar the Aquatic Invasive Species team at Lake Stewards of Maine will discuss how to identify these four plants and their native lookalikes, how LSM is engaging with lake communities with active infestations, and how volunteers can become involved in battling aquatic invaders across Maine.
Clary Lake Ice Out Earliest Ever!
We have declared ice out on Friday, March 8, 2024. Our records go back to 2001 and this is the earliest date we’ve recorded. The previous record was March 13, 2016. There’s still a little skim ice down in the marsh by the boat launch (likely a result of overnight freezing temperatures) and a few loose floes still in the cove on the south shore in front of David Giampetruzzi’s camp (it’s always the last to go) but the lake itself was effectively and substantially free of ice by the end of the day Friday. The picture above and at left was taken Thursday afternoon.
Ice out occurred earlier than any of our ice out contest guesses so technically nobody was “closest without going over.” In such a situation, rather than saying “Sorry, no winner this year” we feel justified in changing the rule to simply “closest” and “next closest” for first and second place which makes Gayle Knight with her guess of March 10th the first place winner of a $25 Jefferson Scoop gift certificate. Some of you will recall that also Gayle won the contest last year. We’re not quite sure how she managed to win our ice out contest two years in a row… she’s either cheating or she’s very lucky. She claims she just really really likes ice cream. We’ll go with that explanation 🙂
Much to his chagrin, Tristan Tabor of Lake Stewards of Maine has come in second with his guess of March 11th. I’ll be mailing him the second place prize, a laminated copy of our Clary Lake Depth Map (pictured at left). Tristan is the Water Quality Program Director, Technical Director, Aquatic Scientist at Lake Stewards of Maine and is a great guy. I can honestly say he is NOT HAPPY to have won any prize at all in our ice out contest, let alone second prize. He is concerned as we all should be at the implications that a warming climate will have on lake water quality.
Clear Evidence of a Warming Climate
Normally, for statistical analysis of climate data one wants data covering as long a period of time as possible. Our ice in and ice out records only go back 24 years to 2001 but even over that short period of time we’re still able to detect a warming trend in our climate, as this chart of ice in and ice out dates shows. You can detect that the average of ice in dates (represented by the straight red line) trends upward ever so slightly, indicating that ice in is on average occurring a little later every year. Likewise, the average of ice out dates (represented by the straight blue line) trends downward ever so slightly indicating that ice out is on average occurring a little earlier every year. However, the number of ice free days (the straight yellow line) is very clearly rising since it’s reflecting both later ice in and earlier ice out dates i.e., it’s being stretched in both directions:
So this brings our 2024 ice out contest to a close. Many thanks to everyone who participated.
Ice Out Video Camera 3
This video was made from 164 webcam images stitched together at a frame rate of 4 images per second.
Ice Out Imminent (Video)
Ice out is imminent. It is hard to imagine the ice remaining on the south shore of the lake lasting another 24 hours, however we will not call it until we see it. This picture (complete with duck!) shows the condition of the ice along the south shore in Whitefield as of this afternoon. The east end of the lake down to the boat launch is already ice-free and if the wind keeps up this afternoon it will grind the remaining ice up in a hurry. This is the earliest we’ve ever recorded ice-out on Clary Lake. The previous record was March 13, 2016.
Here are couple of short videos:
5 March 2024 Ice Out Update
The ice is disappearing from Clary Lake even faster than I had thought it would, and judging from the ice out guestimates, earlier than most everyone else too. That said, most everyone thought it would be early this year. Perhaps just not this early. There never was much ice up in the marsh, and what little there was is gone as you can see on this lovely photograph taken by Steve Cowles earlier today (at left and above). You can also see open water on some of the Clary webcams, especially cameras 1 and 2.
If anyone is wondering why we’re using featured images on most all of our posts now, it’s so the post makes it’s way to our Instagram page! If you have what you consider a nice picture of Clary Lake, send it to pictures@clarylake.org and if it makes the cut, I’ll post it here.
February 2024 Water Level Chart Archived
I have archived the February 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). There was virtually no precipitation to speak of in February until the last 2 days of the month when we received a total of 1.16″ of rain! We ended the month with only 1.35 inches total, or only 52% of the normal 2.61 inches. On average, February has the least amount of precipitation of all 12 months. Despite the lack of precipitation, the lake level actually fell quite slowly over the course of the month losing only 0.36 feet all month while outflows remained quite high, thanks to January’s excessive rainfall. In fact, for much of the month of February total outflows in acre-feet exceeded those in 2023 which is amazing considering how little precipitation we received. By the end of the 3rd week of February however, outflows had fallen behind 2023 numbers and the lake level finally reached -1.5 feet. With slowing outflows, we decided it was time to add some stoplogs to the weir. The rainfall at the end of the month brought the lake up 4 tenths of a foot, ending the month at -1.09 feet or about average for the end of February. I expect the lake will rise a little more in the next couple of days. Continue reading
[UPDATED] 2024 Ice Out Guestimates
UPDATED: There haven’t been any new entries in a few days so I decided to close the contest Most everyone believes the ice will go out in March which is tomorrow. I would like to avoid a flurry of people changing their guesses.
Good Luck!
Here are the current guesses for the 2024 Ice Out. This page is NOT updated automatically, I have to do it manually. I’ll plan to update it at least twice a day and I’ll make this post sticky to make it easy to find at the top of the News page. If you want to enter, or if you’ve already entered and want to enter again, here’s the Google Entry Form or you can use form on the original post. Remember, only your last entry counts!.
Hint: You can sort by date by clicking on the Ice Out Guess column.
2024 Ice Out Contest Guestimates
Timestamp | Your name: | Ice Out Guess: |
---|---|---|
2/24/2024 9:15:24 | Lynda Despard | 3/15/2024 |
2/24/2024 9:25:03 | Margaret Fergusson | 4/1/2024 |
2/24/2024 9:39:15 | Karen Stutzer | 3/28/2024 |
2/24/2024 10:41:34 | Beverley Bowen | 3/21/2024 |
2/24/2024 11:04:58 | Arlene Wing | 3/15/2024 |
2/24/2024 11:49:46 | Bill Hall | 3/24/2024 |
2/24/2024 12:01:01 | Rich & Megan Luisi | 3/30/2024 |
2/24/2024 12:03:27 | Ronnie Spann | 4/1/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:09:15 | George Fergusson | 3/12/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:14:12 | Julie Anderson | 3/31/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:21:43 | Gayle Knight | 3/10/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:39:36 | Dedi Rapp | 3/25/2024 |
2/24/2024 15:07:59 | Wynne G Keller | 3/27/2024 |
2/24/2024 16:23:51 | Kate Seba | 3/25/2024 |
2/24/2024 18:49:19 | Ellis Percy | 3/26/2024 |
2/24/2024 18:52:17 | JoAnn Tribby | 3/22/2024 |
2/24/2024 21:47:47 | Stephen Viti | 3/23/2024 |
2/24/2024 22:53:57 | Brian Vogel | 3/29/2024 |
2/25/2024 8:31:50 | Donna Roeckel | 3/20/2024 |
2/25/2024 16:10:22 | Carolyn Curtis | 3/17/2024 |
2/25/2024 16:30:40 | Margaret Fergusson | 3/17/0024 |
2/25/2024 18:02:22 | Cindy Norman | 3/17/2024 |
2/25/2024 18:02:23 | Ben Giguere | 3/14/2024 |
2/25/2024 18:32:21 | Cheryl Smith | 3/26/2024 |
2/25/2024 20:45:54 | Erin Trundy | 3/19/2024 |
2/26/2024 7:50:41 | Don Hogg | 3/21/2024 |
2/26/2024 9:54:55 | Steve Relyea | 3/13/2024 |
2/26/2024 16:32:03 | Tristan Taber | 3/11/2024 |
2/27/2024 16:48:58 | Vicky Grimsldi | 3/18/2024 |
2/27/2024 18:14:54 | Thomas Gillette | 3/23/2024 |
2024 Clary Lake Ice Out Contest!
This is our fifth year running a Clary Lake Ice-Out contest. This year’s prize for first place is the same as last year’s prize, a $25 Gift Certificate to The Jefferson Scoop. Yay Ice Cream! If you guess the correct ice-out date or come closest without going past it, you’re the winner. It’s quite likely that the ice will go out before the Scoop actually opens for business. As soon as the Scoop opens, we’ll pick up the certificate and get it to you.
In the event there are two (or more) people who guessed the same winning date, the person guessing first (based on the recorded timestamp) will be the winner and the other less-lucky (but still lucky!) person (or persons!) will win a laminated 8.5″ x 11″ Clary Lake Depth Map as a runner up prize (see below). FYI, the earliest the lake has been deemed completely free of ice was on March 13, 2016; the latest the ice has gone out was on April 24, 2001. Last year’s “official” ice out date was March 29th which was correctly guessed by Vicki Grimaldi. She won a beautiful 12″ H x 15″ W framed loon photograph taken by David Hodsdon. We also awarded some second places prizes to a couple of other people. Visit our Ice In and Ice Out page to see all our historical data back to 2001. Reviewing historical ice-in and ice-out data is NOT CHEATING! We’ll be closing the contest to new guesses late on March 15th or sooner if it looks like ice out is actually imminent. Guess as often as you want, but remember: only your last guess counts!
Here’s the entry form. A few hints: 1) Use the little little calendar icon thingy and select your date guess by clicking on the calendar, this helps prevent botched dates and 2) I’ll plan to update the list of people’s guestimates at the bottom of this message several times a day 🙂
2024 Ice Out Contest Guestimates
Timestamp | Your name: | Ice Out Guess: |
---|---|---|
2/24/2024 9:15:24 | Lynda Despard | 3/15/2024 |
2/24/2024 9:25:03 | Margaret Fergusson | 4/1/2024 |
2/24/2024 9:39:15 | Karen Stutzer | 3/28/2024 |
2/24/2024 10:41:34 | Beverley Bowen | 3/21/2024 |
2/24/2024 11:04:58 | Arlene Wing | 3/15/2024 |
2/24/2024 11:49:46 | Bill Hall | 3/24/2024 |
2/24/2024 12:01:01 | Rich & Megan Luisi | 3/30/2024 |
2/24/2024 12:03:27 | Ronnie Spann | 4/1/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:09:15 | George Fergusson | 3/12/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:14:12 | Julie Anderson | 3/31/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:21:43 | Gayle Knight | 3/10/2024 |
2/24/2024 13:39:36 | Dedi Rapp | 3/25/2024 |
2/24/2024 15:07:59 | Wynne G Keller | 3/27/2024 |
2/24/2024 16:23:51 | Kate Seba | 3/25/2024 |
2/24/2024 18:49:19 | Ellis Percy | 3/26/2024 |
2/24/2024 18:52:17 | JoAnn Tribby | 3/22/2024 |
2/24/2024 21:47:47 | Stephen Viti | 3/23/2024 |
2/24/2024 22:53:57 | Brian Vogel | 3/29/2024 |
2/25/2024 8:31:50 | Donna Roeckel | 3/20/2024 |
2/25/2024 16:10:22 | Carolyn Curtis | 3/17/2024 |
2/25/2024 16:30:40 | Margaret Fergusson | 3/17/0024 |
2/25/2024 18:02:22 | Cindy Norman | 3/17/2024 |
2/25/2024 18:02:23 | Ben Giguere | 3/14/2024 |
2/25/2024 18:32:21 | Cheryl Smith | 3/26/2024 |
2/25/2024 20:45:54 | Erin Trundy | 3/19/2024 |
2/26/2024 7:50:41 | Don Hogg | 3/21/2024 |
2/26/2024 9:54:55 | Steve Relyea | 3/13/2024 |
2/26/2024 16:32:03 | Tristan Taber | 3/11/2024 |
2/27/2024 16:48:58 | Vicky Grimsldi | 3/18/2024 |
2/27/2024 18:14:54 | Thomas Gillette | 3/23/2024 |
Rubber Worms May Be Bad News for Maine Fishery
If you fish for Salmon and Trout then you need to be aware of this issue. We don’t have those species in Clary Lake. The article points out that Bass can expel rubber worms from their system either by regurgitation or through their waste stream within 9 days. Good to know!
January 2024 Water Level Chart Archived
I have archived the January 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). With an average monthly precipitation of 3.19 inches, January is normally the least wettest month next to February which averages only 2.61 inches of precipitation, usually in the form of snow. This year however we received 3.82 inches or water or 120% of our normal precipitation on top of the whopping 16″ of surplus rainfall we received in 2023. We had to release a lot of water in January from surface runoff from rain and snow melt and also from ground water to keep the lake level down where it belongs this time of year. We still had water overtopping the dam when the lake rose to within a tenth of a foot of the high water mark on January 14th, an unusual circumstance in January. Continue reading