Patience! It ain’t out yet but it’s getting closer! You can see what appears to be open water on the far side of the lake on this web cam picture, but it’s not open, it’s just dark water logged ice and it’s more like a large section in the middle of the lake. I wouldn’t be walking around out there anymore.
Well we’ve made it through another Winter, and for some of us it’s been particularly trying one. But today, finally, and despite the temperature, Spring is definitely in the air. At 5:24 PM this afternoon the Sun, in it’s apparent path around the Earth, will cross the Earth’s equator on it’s way North. It’s the Vernal Equinox, the day when the Sun rises directly Due East and sets directly Due West and the length of the day and night is equal. From now until the Summer Solstice in June, the days will be getting longer and the nights shorter. Summer is on the way 🙂
I’ve closed the 2023 Ice Out contest to new entries. Now we wait! We’ve got 38 ice out guestimates ranging from tomorrow March 17th (sorry no way!) to April 25th (could happen!). I have no idea if there’s thin ice out there yet or not, but looking out my upstairs office window at the lake today I can see the lake surface has taken on a gray cast indicating there’s water soaked snow on top now. You can’t see that on the Webcams because the images are overexposed, but it’s there. Wet snow on the ice combined with a higher sun angle and warmer temps means winter is coming to an end and the ice’s days are numbered.
Stay tuned!
American Bittern, often heard if not seen on Clary Lake!
In what is becoming a most welcome annual event, experienced Clary Lake birder Malcolm Burson has offered to guide a small group of kayakers and canoeists on an early summer Birding event up into the great Marsh at the outlet of Clary Lake. Both Malcolm and his partner Eleanor Goldberg are long time birders with considerable experience spotting and identifying birds. The tentative date of the tour (to be confirmed as it nears) is Saturday, May 27th, with Sunday the 28th as a rain date. The event is expected to last about an hour and a half. To keep the group small and intimate, we’d like to limit participation to no more than 5-7 kayaks or canoes (no motorboats please, but electric motors are OK). We’ll be filling slots on a first come, first serve basis. If there is sufficient interest we’ll schedule a second event later in the summer on a date to be determined. Continue reading
Time is running out to enter the 2023 Ice Out Contest! We’ll be stopping accepting guesses at the end of the day on Wednesday, March 15th. There are currently 29 guesses. It’s not cheating to look at our Ice In and Ice Out Dates page! You’ll find a description of the prizes, the contest rules, and the entry form here: 2023 Clary Lake Ice Out Contest!
[UPDATE] Remember, you can enter more than once but only your LAST entry will count!
Here are the guesses so far:
| Timestamp | Your name: | Ice Out Guess: |
|---|---|---|
| 3/12/2023 19:22:09 | Sue Webb | 3/17/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 14:22:10 | Stephen Viti | 3/21/2023 |
| 3/13/2023 23:19:11 | Megan Luisi | 3/22/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 14:08:55 | Randall B Wing | 3/23/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 16:41:05 | Jack Holland | 3/23/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 11:06:25 | Karen Stutzer | 3/24/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 12:36:22 | June Relyea | 3/26/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 16:06:19 | Anya Lagasse | 3/26/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 13:47:45 | Jay Bridgforth | 3/27/2023 |
| 3/4/2023 11:40:18 | Carolyn Curtis | 3/27/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 16:13:16 | Dan Burns | 3/28/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 21:04:18 | Sophie Seba | 3/28/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 16:50:39 | Megan Breece | 3/29/2023 |
| 3/8/2023 8:53:45 | Linda S Gallion | 3/30/2023 |
| 3/2/2023 18:16:36 | Thomas Gillette | 3/31/2023 |
| 3/6/2023 16:42:51 | Cheryl Smith | 3/31/2023 |
| 3/10/2023 11:35:09 | Steve Relyea | 4/1/2023 |
| 3/13/2023 18:59:22 | Ronnie Spann | 4/1/2023 |
| 3/12/2023 14:04:17 | Rick Gallion | 4/2/2023 |
| 3/14/2023 12:06:28 | Gayle Knight | 4/3/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 13:41:57 | Sarah Hazelton | 4/4/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 19:40:31 | David L Marsh | 4/4/2023 |
| 3/8/2023 10:48:13 | Brian Vogel | 4/4/2023 |
| 3/13/2023 18:06:57 | Beverley Bowen | 4/4/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 15:54:06 | Julie Anderson | 4/5/2023 |
| 3/3/2023 8:35:39 | Cindy Norman | 4/5/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 11:39:48 | Bill Hall | 4/6/2023 |
| 3/10/2023 10:19:24 | Michelle Pinkham | 4/6/2023 |
| 3/14/2023 12:08:25 | David Knight | 4/7/2023 |
| 3/10/2023 10:20:24 | Steve Pinkham | 4/9/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 16:56:40 | Dedi Rapp | 4/10/2023 |
| 3/15/2023 10:05:50 | Vicky Grimaldi | 4/12/2023 |
| 3/15/2023 11:23:56 | Ellis Percy | 4/12/2023 |
| 3/4/2023 11:29:37 | June m Lordi | 4/10/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 13:44:12 | DONNA Roeckel | 4/13/2023 |
| 3/13/2023 20:24:48 | Wynne Keller | 4/13/2023 |
| 3/13/2023 19:02:50 | Charlene Andersen | 4/14/2023 |
| 3/1/2023 13:08:23 | Kate Seba | 4/25/2023 |
LSM’s Annual Conference this year will be a joint conference with Maine Lakes.
Location: China Lake Conference Center
Date: June 17, 2023. There are discounts for early registration, LSM Water Quality monitors and Invasive Plant Patrollers, and Maine Lakes’ LakeSmart volunteers.
Please have a look at the conference webpage to register and to learn more about the programming, workshops, sponsors, door prizes, and silent auction items that will be at this all-day, engaging, and inspiring day. Information will be added in the coming weeks as the schedule of speakers and activities are finalized.
Amanda Knight
It is with the deepest of condolences to our CLA President David Knight and his dear wife, Gayle that we acknowledge the passing of their daughter, Amanda. Amanda grew up on Clary Lake. David has been a solid and supporting hand in lake business during these past few years, all the while shouldering the heavy load of concern and care for a child struggling. David and Gayle made numerous trips to Vermont where Amanda lived with her wife, Carrie and their beloved child, Kastle. Through all of this he found time, where he could, to stay in touch with Association business and keep us informed of progress and setbacks. Alas, Amanda’s obituary is included below. Please keep David and Gayle and their family in your hearts and be kind to one another. Continue reading
This is our fourth year running a Clary Lake Ice-Out contest. This year’s prize for first place is 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. You were warned. 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 lucky but not that lucky 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: Continue reading
I have archived the February 2023 water level chart (at left). February did not continue the wet trend that start the new year. On the contrary. February has the smallest average monthly precipitation of only 2.61 inches but we failed to reach even that low bar, receiving only 1.35 of precipitation for the month, mostly in the form of snow. We started February fully 4 inches ahead of average precipitation, but we lost ground, ending the month only 2.74 inches above average. Despite this, because we received so much precipitation in January, outflows from Clary Lake remained extremely high for the entire month. How high you ask? In the first two months of 2022, total outflows from Clary Lake amounted to 2231 acre-feet of water. In the first two months of 2023, outflows amounted to 4667 acre-feet or more than TWICE as much water. In other words, in the first two months of 2023 more than half the full volume of the lake passed through Clary Lake. In fact, outflows in the first 2 months of 2023 far exceed outflows during the same two-month period for the last 5 years, back to 2019 with the greatest disparity occurring in 2021: Continue reading
We haven’t had much in the way of current local weather on this website for some time. CLA member Tim Chase has a new Davis Instruments weather station designated Whitefield Village and we’re now hosting it on our Weather page. It displays the current temperature, wind, rain, humidity, and barometric pressure. There’s also a Whitefield Village Weather Summary page which has more information for a more detailed look at local weather.
I’m not sure when Tim installed his weather station but I think it was sometime in January. He therefore missed some of January’s heavy rains. As a result, his precipitation totals and mine won’t agree this year.
There’s a neat WeatherLink app on Google Play you can install on your Android phone which gives you access to loads of weather stations all over the world, in addition the Whitefield Village station. The app provides even more information including historical data. I assume there’s one for iPhones but I haven’t checked.
You’ll also find Whitefield Village weather on the Weather Underground station KMEWHITE15.
Usually the header image/banner on the website rotates randomly. Once in a while I highlight a specific banner image for a while. Today’s banner highlight is a truly ethereal sunset taken by Mark Rowe, taken looking southwest from Mark’s home on the North Clary Road.
If you haven’t already had a chance to observe comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), according to Colin Caissie (who manages the Brower Observatory located on the Fergusson property in Whitefield), the best chance to spot the comet will be this coming Wednesday evening before the gibbous moon rises at 7:56 PM and interferes with the comet’s visibility. The comet is rather faint now (magnitude 8.57) and will be located just West of iota Aurigae in the Southeast and close to overhead, at an altitude of about 80°. Look for a small greenish fuzzy patch, with or without a tail. Sirius (the Dog Star) is the brightest star in the sky and it will be low on the southeastern horizon. You might also recognize Orion south of the comet’s location, and Castor and Pollux, the two bright stars in Gemini. Auriga is also a well known constellation, and Alpha Aurigae will be the brightest star in the sky at this time, close by just above and to the left (East) of the comet. Continue reading
Careful out there folks! It is cold and getting colder! Subzero temperatures and WTF windchill expected for the next 48 hours. This is why we love Maine, right?
I have archived the January 2023 water level chart (at left). By far the most impressive thing about January was how much snow and rain we got! Total precipitation including rain and (melted) snow was 7.19 inches of water which is more than twice the average precipitation for January of 3.19 inches. We’re starting off the year fully 4 inches above normal for this date. This will benefit ground water supplies this coming year. Even with all the snow and rainfall however, the water level was relatively stable though it was a little higher than we like to maintain it this time of year, due to all the inflows. January and February are usually pretty sedate months from a water level management perspective but this year we’ve had to open the gate a couple of times to let out more water just to keep the lake from overtopping the dam. There’s nothing wrong with overtopping, but this time of year it leads to ice formation which makes walking on the dam treacherous. We also like to keep the lake level lower in the winter to prevent ice damage to the shoreline. Mother nature however usually has her way. Continue reading
Welcome to the Clary Lake Association website as we enter the doldrums of winter! If this is your first time visiting our website, an extra hearty welcome, and we do hope you’ll come back. If you are a returning visitor, know that your continued interest in our website and in the Clary Lake Association is greatly appreciated. The Clary Lake Association plays a vital role in protecting and preserving Clary Lake, and we very much need interested and engaged people to keep the Association functioning and relevant. We’re an all-volunteer organization and we depend on people like you who love Clary Lake to get involved and help out. Continue reading
During the petition I posted numerous articles to this website with links to files located on my Google Drive. Then in 2021 Google rolled out a security update for Google Drive that restricted access to drive files using links that used to work fine. When you click on one of these links, instead of getting the file you get a “You need access” screen like the one above. Sorry about that. I finally got around to fixing many of the broken links but there are undoubtedly still a few kicking around, waiting to disappoint someone. If you encounter one while perusing our news feed or pages, please, make use of the blue “Request access” button and I’ll fix it for you.
Usually the header image/banner on the website rotates randomly. Once in a while I highlight specific banner images for a while. Today’s banner highlight is a truly ethereal sunrise taken by Kelley Doore, taken looking east from the old Morse Wemple home on North Clary Road:
For a few years now we’ve been using a plugin on this website to provide a variety of features and functions. One of those functions has been collecting addresses of people who want to be notified of new posts. These have been collected by WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org) and not by the Clary Lake Association. Sadly, this plugin has become bloated and annoying, and some of the features we’ve been most interested in are going to become value-added in the near future meaning we’ll need to pay for them if we want to keep them. I’m disinclined to pay for something when reasonable (and free!) alternatives exist. Therefore, we’re getting ready to ditch this plugin and make other arrangements to implement the parts we like.
Right off we’re going to implement Post Notifications with list software we already have. This means it will be really easy to manage all your subscriptions to our lists. Any email you receive from us will have “Unsubscribe” and “Manage Your Subscription” links at the bottom. If you click on “Manage Your Subscriptions” you’ll be able to subscribe or unsubscribe to all of our available lists.
If you’ve previously subscribed to post notifications using WordPress.com (the old system), you’ll now be receiving them using our new system. If you subscribed to notifications on comments on specific posts, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. If I can implement that feature in the future, I will do so.
You’ll find a blue form on the sidebar you can use to signup for post notifications, or you can use this one:
When I get a chance I’ll put up a page where you can review and signup for all our lists.
Happy New Year!
And that’s a wrap! I have archived the December water level chart (at left) bringing 2022 to a close. I guess the most impressive thing about December had to be the huge 24 hour lake level rise of 15.8″ from just 3″ of rain (and a little snow melt) on the day before Christmas for a runoff multiplier of over 5X. You can see excessive runoff this time of year because frozen ground means more rain runs off and less soaks into the ground. We’ve seen some big lake level responses to rainfall, but this is one of the biggest I can remember in a long time. Continue reading
I’m calling Ice In today, December 22, 2022. I drove around the lake earlier checking the ice from various locations with binoculars looking for open water and I couldn’t find any. And that’s that, as my friend Ernest would say. It remains to be seen whether the ice survives the warm weather, heavy rain, and high wind forecast for tomorrow. Time will tell.
Today is day 355 of the year which is a little later than the average of 348 for ice-in, and there were 268 ice-free days in 2022; average is 252 ice-free days. We really don’t have data going back far enough to be able to see any long-term trends.
The lake was *almost* frozen over back on the 13th but there were still a few patches of open water to be found. David Hodsdon did some research into definitions of ice-in and he came up with “Ice-in is when the lake is completely covered with ice for it least one day and night and remains at least partially (say 50%) covered from then on.“