October 2018

I have archived the October 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). As you can see the water level in October very gradually rose a total of only 6.12″ over the course of the month from a low of -55.32″ below the Normal High Water Line on the first day of the month to -49.20″ on the last. We received 3.96″ of rain during that period and the fact that the lake didn’t rise more is an indication of how depleted the water table has been. Average rainfall for this date is 34.30″ and we’re only at at 31.96″ or 2.34″ below normal. You’ll notice the chart shows the dam’s gate is still wide open. We’re going to leave it open until the repairs to the dam have been completed.

September 2018

I have archived the September 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). The water level in September for the most part reversed the downward trend of previous months, remaining pretty much flat for the whole month but for the last week when heavy rains resulted in a modest lake level rise of 1.68″ by the end of the month. Given that we received 5.38″ of rain in September, it’s amazing that it didn’t rise a lot more than that, a clear indication of how depleted the ground water supply has been. The last rain event on September 25 and 26 dumped 2.5″ of rain on Clary Lake which in a normal year should have brought the lake up 10″ resulted in a minuscule 1.56″ lake level rise.

Despite having received way more rain than the normal 3.74″ for September, at only 28.00″ so far we’re still shy almost 2″ of the yearly average of 29.93″ for this date. It’s been dry: I recorded measurable rainfall on only 4 days during September.

Now that we’ve received a favorable ruling from the bankruptcy court, we’re hoping to get started on dam repairs later this fall. I think it’s safe to say you’re never going to see Clary Lake this low again 🙂

August 2018

I have archived the August 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). The water level in August continued the slow but steady decline seen in June and July, falling only 3.00″ over the course of the month or about a tenth of an inch per day. Most of the drop now is due to evaporation as there’s virtually no water flowing down the channel and out the dam.

It’s still dry: we received only 2.95″ of rain during August, 0.36″ less than normal. So far this year we’ve received 22.62″ or 3.57″ less than average for this date. According to the National Integrated Drought Information System we’re currently experiencing “Abnormally Dry” which I suppose it about right.

Since posting about finding some Purple Loosestrife growing around Clary Lake last month (see: “Have You Seen This Plant?”) I have continued to find and remove more plants. Many thanks to those of you who have reported loosestrife around the lake. The other day I spotted another group of plants over by the inlet to the lake in Jefferson and plan to go dig them up/pull them out this weekend.

No, I don’t know when the Bankruptcy Judge is going to rule. Patience people. It’ll happen.

July 2018

I have archived the July 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). The water level in July continued the steady decline seen in June though at a slightly reduced daily rate, falling only 4.32″ over the course of the month. An indication of how steady the decline was is the “coefficient of determination” (the R² or “R squared” value in the inset box on the chart) which in simple terms is a statistical measure of how close the data points fit a straight line. An R² value of 0.9181 means the data points collected over the month are very close to a straight line (a perfect fit would have an R² of 1.00). Because of the relative drought we’re experiencing, the 3.30″ of rain we received during the month had very little effect on the lake level, which only rose marginally for a few days towards the end of the month. We end the month about where we were this time last year, only 1.68″ lower than on July 31, 2017. Continue reading →

I have archived the June 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). The water level in June continued the steady decline seen in May though at a slightly reduced daily rate, up until the 28th of the month when we received a welcome 2.0″ of rainfall over 24 hours, which reversed the downward trend, barely. The ground has been so dry however that there was virtually no runoff from the precipitation event with the lake rising only 2.28″ as a result. In a normal year with normal rainfall and normal ground water supplies, that 2″ of rain would have brought the lake up close to a foot. Rainfall for the month was 3.67″ which is slightly above average, but for the year to date at 16.37″ we’re still a good 3″ shy of where we should be on this date.

On the bright side, the slower fall in lake level over the month contributed to a successful Loon nesting effort, with 2 chicks hatching out on the 24th of June.

May 2018

I have archived the May 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). What is particularly notable about the May chart is the steady decline of the lake level over the course of the month, falling from -18.24″ below the Normal High Water Mark [“NHWM”] on May 1st to -43.44″ below the NHWM on May 31st. That’s a total drop of 25.2″ in 31 days or about 0.8″ per day. Not once did the lake level rise, or remain stable. The reason for this steady decline in the water level was due to a lack of rainfall and of course, because the gate is wide open. As dry as it has been, the little rain we did receive didn’t slow down the rate at which the lake was falling one bit. During the first half of the month water was also exiting the lake through the hole in the dam.

We received only 1.17″ of rain in May or 2.5″ less than the May average of 3.7″ which puts us fully 3.2″ shy of rainfall for the year to date. It looks like we’re headed for another dry summer. For some reason, the National Integrated Drought Information System is showing us as WET which does not jive with my understanding.

April 2018

I have archived the April 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). There is nothing particularly notable about the April chart but it was nice to see the lake rise above -24″ for the last 3rd of the month (the lake is currently about as low as you’ll ever see it once we own the dam). The level lake rose over 18″ as the result of 4.5″ of rainfall despite the gate being wide open. The hole in the dam appears to have been partially blocked by flotsam which impeded the outflow. Precipitation for the year stands at 11.53″ which is only 0.68″ less than average. Perhaps the drought trend that has plagued us for the last couple of years is ending?

Secchi Disk readings 1975 to Present

We have resumed our water quality monitoring for the 2018 season. David Hodsdon and I went out this morning and collected secchi disk (transparency, see chart at left) readings and dissolved oxygen data as well as a water sample to be analyzed for Total Phosphorus content. We go out and collect data every 2 weeks during the boating season. This data gets sent to the Volunteer Lake Monitor Program (formerly VLMP, now Lake Stewards of Maine) and is also available on this site on our Water Monitoring Data page. The Secchi disk chart shows a general decline in water transparency over the last 15 years with a marked decline over the last 7-10 years, no doubt the result of generally lower water levels associated with Pleasant Pond Mill’s mismanagement of the lake level.

Total Phosphorus

Decreasing transparency goes hand in hand with increasing levels of Total Phosphorus, as the chart at left shows. Phosphorus is plant food and is the primary cause of algae blooms which have been increasingly a problem in recent years. We experienced our first algae bloom in 2009 and have experienced blooms almost every year since then, the exception being 2016 and 2017 when we were in severe drought. Drought means lack of rain which results in less runoff which results in less Phosphorus entering the lake. Higher Phosphorus levels combined with lower water levels are a recipe for algae blooms.

Hopefully all this will change once the Clary Lake Association owns the dam.

Clary Lake is finally ice free! Much of the lake has been free of ice for the past 4-5 days,  but there was a large raft of ice down in the east end by the State boat launch that refused to dissipate. That ice is gone as of this morning. The loons are back and there are ducks and geese all over the place. I love spring! Historically, April 20th is a little late, but not by much. We have ice-in and ice-out dates going back to 2001:

• Clary Lake Ice-in and Ice-out Dates

I plan to get my boat in the water this weekend. Let the boating season begin!

March 2018

I have archived the March 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the March chart is how little the lake level fell over the course of the month despite the lack of precipitation received (less than an inch all told). This (relatively) stable level was likely the result of channel friction due to heavy ice cover in the march and increased runoff from ground water and melting snow partly making up for the outflows from the dam. Precipitation for the month was only 0.91″ which is way below the March average of 3.39″ putting us at only 7.00″ for the year to date, 1.43″ below normal. Hopefully spring rains will make up the difference. I only measured the lake level 13 times in March and nobody seemed to notice 🙂

February 2018

I have archived the February 2018 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the February chart is how little the lake level changed over the course of the month despite the gate being wide open and with no major precipitation events to generate runoff. We started the month at -29.28″ below the normal high water mark and ended the month at -33.24″ below the normal high water mark, only 3.96″ lower that we started. The lake level was also above the hole in the dam for the whole month, increasing the amount of water leaving the lake. Nonetheless, the lake level stayed pretty flat for the month; I attribute the relatively stable lake level to reduced outflows as a result of channel friction and ice cover in the marsh which has been unusually thick this winter. Precipitation for the month was 2.28″ which is a little less than the historical average of 2.44″ for the month of February. Year to date our precipitation total is 6.09″ which is an inch more than average.

January 2018

I have archived the January 2018 Water Level Chart (at left) starting us off on another year of sub-par water levels. The most notable feature of the January chart is that the lake level actually made it up into the “allowable” range (for this time of year), reaching a high of -19.08″ below the normal high water mark on January 15th as the result of nearly 2.5″ of heavy rains and snow melt. Gotta love January thaw! I had stopped making measurements on December 31st but the warm weather and rapidly rising lake level made getting down to the lake and actually finding the water surface relatively easy.

Precipitation for the month of January was 3.81″ most of which we received in a big storm in the middle of the month. Average for January is only 2.6″ so already we’re 1.2″ above normal for the year, but the year is just starting.

All told I only made 8 water level measurements for the month of January and I don’t expect to resume measurements on anything like a regular basis until sometime spring. I’ll try and grab a few measurements between now and then if the opportunity presents itself.

The Clary Lake water level charts have been updated for the first time this year. I hadn’t expected to resume water level measurements yet, but heavy overnight rains not only melted all the snow in my yard but also the ice around the edge of the lake making it too easy to obtain a water level measurement. The lake level is now -30.48″ below the normal high water mark having risen 11.76″ from my last measurement back on December 31st. It remains to be seen whether I’m back to a regular, daily measurement routine. Probably not, but ever the opportunist, I’ll snag an occasional water level measurement this winter when the opportunity presents itself.

Tim Chase recorded 2.4″ of precipitation at his Grand Army Weather Station. I for one am glad it wasn’t in the form of snow… 

I have archived the December 2017 Water Level Chart (at left) bringing us to the end of another year of sub-par water levels. The most notable feature of the December chart is how little the lake level changed over the course of the month despite below average precipitation for the month; the lake level started out the month at -43.32″ below the normal high water mark and ended the month just a hair more than 1″ higher at -42.24″ all in all pretty much flat for the whole month. We only received 2.16″ of precipitation, a good inch less than average. We ended the year at 37.60″ of precipitation, almost 4.5″ less than average. We’ve already got a pretty good snow pack started so I expect ground water supplies will be well replenished come spring. Continue reading →

November 2017

I have archived the November 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the November chart is… nothing 🙂 There is nothing particularly notable, or remarkable, about November’s water level chart. The lake level managed to rise 3.24″ over the month, ending marginally higher than it started.

Rainfall in November was well below normal but still enough, with a fully-recharged water table, to keep the lake level rising marginally. We received only 2.85″ of rain, 1.52″ less than average for November. This brings us to 35.44″ for the year which is still 3.23″ below normal for this date despite the almost 9″ of rain we received in the end of October.

I have archived the October 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the October chart is how flat the lake level was and how little it rose despite heavy rains at the end of the month.  We received almost 9″ of rain in the last week of October. Despite the rain, we’re still several inches short for the year. I’m at the Sheepscot General, we’re currently without power and internet so I’m going to cut this post short.