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.

I have archived the September 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the September chart is how little the lake level changed over the course of the month: the lake level dropped only 1.56″ from the first day to the last. This didn’t appear to have much if anything to do with the 2.4″ of precipitation received since the lake barely rose after receiving that rainfall. With effectively no water leaving the lake through the channel for the past several months, likely all of the drop (an average of less than 1/10th of an inch per day) was due to evaporation. The lake reached -58.68″ below the normal high water mark on the last day of the month, the lowest level reached so far this year.

We received only 2.37″ of rain in September (average is 3.74″ for the month) bringing us to 23.65″ for the year which is fully 6.28″ shy of where we should be at this time. According to the National Integrated Drought Information System we’re in MODERATE drought, not as dry as we were last year at this time, but still pretty dry.

Looking at September in light of the lake level trend for the year, the lack of rainfall in 2017 has resulted in a slow but steady decline in water level without any of the ups and downs usually present due to normal precipitation. This lack of “volatility” over the spring and summer is especially noticeable on the Water Level Chart covering the period December 2011 through the current date (above). From December 2011 until the spring of 2015, the lake level during the summer fluctuated up and down considerable whereas since the spring of 2015, after reaching a high in April, the lake level has pretty much steadily fallen to it’s low in October. In 2015, 2016, and so far in 2o17, precipitation has been significantly below average.

This year, the lake reached a high of -8.76″ below the normal high water mark on April 13th, thanks in part to the effort of some beavers who managed to at least partially plug up the dam outlet. This was the highest water level we’ve seen in SEVEN YEARS, since 2010. On a marginally bright note, the lake level effectively bottomed out this year about a foot higher than it did last year. I attribute this to profuse vegetation in the channel which has hampered lake outflow.

While the lack of rainfall has been hard on people’s gardens and wells, the lack of rainfall and resulting runoff has been generally good for Clary Lake’s water quality which has maintained better than average transparency throughout the summer in spite of the drastically low-water conditions. Secchi disk readings this summer never once fell below 3 meters (see our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page). David Hodsdon and I are heading out later this morning to collect more water quality data and I expect transparency to have improved even further.

August 2017

I have archived the August 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the August chart is the same thing that stood out in the June and July charts: how slowly the lake level fell especially considering how little rainfall we’ve received. The lake level fell steadily over the course of the month with the exception of a small blip up on the 19th of the month as the result of what passes for heavy rains these days. Over the course of the month of August the lake lost and average of only 0.16″ per day, falling only 4.68″ over the course of the entire month. In July it fell 0.21″ per day and in June, 0.38″ per day. These rates of fall are fully 1/2 of what one would expect given the water level. As I stated in last month’s posting, it appears the retarded outflows are the result of the outlet channel being clogged with plant growth. Continue reading →

July 2017

I have archived the July 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the July chart is how slowly the lake level fell especially considering how little rainfall we received over the month. We saw this same phenomena in June but it was even more pronounced in July. In July the lake level fell an average of only 0.21″ per day, falling a total of only 6.48″ over 31 days which is even more remarkable considering we only received 0.95″ of rain in July. For comparison, in June we the lake level fell only 0.38″ per day for a total of 11.4″ drop for the month during which we received only 1.88″ of rain. Average rainfall for July is 3.43″ so for the month we were 2.48″ low and for the year we’re 3.9″ shy of the average.

Back in June I was hard put to explain why the lake level was dropping so slowly, but the reason has finally become clear: the outlet channel is so full of plant growth that it’s impeding the outflow of water from the lake. Go figure. Continuing plant growth also explains why the outflow rate has continued to slow in July and will likely slow even further in August. Outflow at the dam is just a trickle now, and fully half of the daily drop in lake level is due to evaporation.

May 2017

I have archived the May 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the May chart is how much rain fell on us during the month. Most of you will agree that May was a cold,  wet month.  Average rainfall for May is 3.7″ and we received just over 5.1″ or 1.4″ more rain than usual. This brings us to 16.24″ for the year which is only slightly more than the average rainfall of 15.91″ for this date. As a result of the extra rainfall, on average the lake level fell only 0.4″ per day rather than the expected 1″ per day, resulting in a total drop for the month of only 13.56″: we started the month at -20.5″ below the high water mark, and ended the month at -34.1″ below the high water mark.

Not much else to say about this.

[UPDATE]: Revised to show additional rainfall received when some late evening thunder storms rolled through. As a result of that extra rainfall, the lake level this morning is unchanged from yesterday morning’s reading.

April 2017

I have archived the April 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the April chart is that the lake level rose above the -2 foot mark on April 7th and stayed above that level for the next 24 days, until the end of the month. It also reached -8.76″ below the high water mark when the ice went out on April 13th, which is the highest level I have recorded since I starting making water level measurements back in December 2011. However, the Clary Lake Water Level Order calls for the lake level to be maintained at the normal high water mark from ice out until August 1st and that “at no time during this period shall the lake level be artificially manipulated to be lower than the established normal high water line” so as high as it was, it still fell short of the requirements of the Order. No soup for you, Mr. Kelley.

We received 4.20″ of precipitation during the month of April or about 0.42″ more than the average of 3.78″ bringing us to 10.18″ for the year, or about 2″ below normal. The drought conditions we experienced last summer and fall have been fully relieved with ground water supplies back more or less to normal.

It remains to be seen what the lake level will be like this summer.