February 2021

I have archived the February 2021 Water Level Chart (at left). Precipitation was slow to accumulate this month but a rain/snow storm on the 27th finally pushed us to 2.67 inches for the month, just a hair above the February average of 2.61 inches. Year to date however we’re still the better part of an inch below normal and without any snow pack to speak of, we are looking at a drier than usual Spring. Most of Maine is not in drought this winter but there are some areas on the coast not far south from here that are considered “abnormally dry.” A lot can (and probably will) change between now and April.

Average outflows this winter are only 1/2 of what they were last winter so our dam management goal for February was to minimize outflows to preserve as much water as possible while dribbling enough out to maintain the required minimum flows. We did a pretty good job as you can see from the chart. We started out the month at -0.95 feet below the HWM and ended the month only 1/4 of a foot lower. On March 16th the minimum flows will increase from the current 11.3 cfs to 35.9 cfs, the highest seasonal outflows of the year. The challenge is that this comes at a time of year when we’re trying to fill the lake for Spring.