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. 

February 2017

I have archived the February 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the February chart is how relatively stable the lake level was for the month, considering we received 1.44″ of precipitation, well below the average precipitation for February of 2.44″ (for Augusta). The lake level started the month at -37″ below the Normal High Water Mark (NHWM) and dropped to a low of -44.6″ on February 21st before ending the month 1/2″ higher than it started, at -36.5″ below the NHWM. The dam’s gate remained half open for the entire month, though the dam owner felt compelled to open it all the way on the first day of March, an action consistent with his observed behavior of trying to keep the lake level below the hole in the dam which is somewhere around -34″ below the top of the dam. There was no water flowing through the hole when I drove by the dam yesterday.

We ended up with 24″ of snow by the time the February 2017 “Valentine’s Day Blizzard” was over.

What with the 3′ and 4′ snow drifts between my house and the lake, 18″ of ice ON the lake, and even more snow coming tonight, I’ve decided to take a break from my daily water level measurements. When spring springs I’ll resume my daily readings again. After this next storm it sounds like we’re in for a stretch of warm weather, and that may open things up enough for me to resume, so perhaps this hiatus may be short lived. We’ll see.

I’ll continue to record precipitation and will try to get at least an approximate water level reading once in a while.

January 2017

I have archived the January 2017 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the January chart is nothing, really. Kind of a ho-hum chart if you ask me. The lake level was at -48″ below the normal high water mark (HWM) at the start of the month and ended the month at -36.5″ or about a foot higher. The lake level was severely low for the whole summer and fall so seeing the lake rise marginally higher has been comforting. That said, the gate on the dam has been open about half way for the entire month, considerably more than the opening called for in the Water Level Order. Anyway you want look at it, the dam owner is still in clear violation of the Clary Lake water level order.

We received 2.84″ of precipitation during the month, some in the form of snow and some as rain. Average precipitation for January is 2.6″ so we’re starting the month a little ahead for a change.  We started this year in Severe drought (drought intensity D2) but we’re now in Moderate drought (drought intensity D1) however with the ground frozen, very little water is going to get into the water table until spring.

December 2016

And so we come to the end of another year (#5) of water level measurements. I have archived the December 2016 Water Level Chart (at left) and the Whole Year 2016 chart (see below). The most notable feature of the December chart is the the fact that lake only came up 8.76″ over the course of the month despite us having received 3.88″ of precipitation; this is a runoff multiplier of only 2.25X or about 1/2 of what it should be this time of year, even with a low water table. No doubt the reason for this is because the dam’s gate was mostly open for almost the entire month. Normally with the ground frozen and having received that much rain, the lake would have risen twice as much. Continue reading →

When I announced that the DEP had finally established the elevation of the normal high water line of Clary Lake, I said I would be changing my water level measurement regimen to match and would post an update about those changes when they happened. Well, they happened. Nothing earth shaking to report, but there are a few things to make note of. Since I’ve been using NAVD88 elevations all along the only thing needing to change was the index value to which water levels are referenced. Telling people the water level is 148.76′ today really doesn’t impart any useful information, which is why I’ve always stated water levels in inches with respect to the top of the dam. From now on I will reference them in inches, to the normal high water line, which is very close to the top of the dam. Data collection and basic data manipulation remains the same. The Water Level Charts themselves received a few obvious edits- the left hand axis on the charts is now “Inches Below Normal High Water” instead of “Inches Below Top of Dam” and the legend has been updated to reflect this change. The difference between the two (0.22′ or 2.59″) is so small as to not be visible on the actual water level charts. Zero on the left-hand scale used to be Top of the Dam. It is now the Normal High Water Line. Continue reading →