March 2020

I have archived the March 2020 Water Level Chart (at left) which for what it’s worth was labeled “Clary Lake Water Level February 2020” for the entire month of March due to an oversight on my part. Hope nobody was confused about what month it really was! The remarkable thing the March water level chart reflects is the relatively stable water level that lasted through the whole month, hovering right around 1 foot below the HWM for most of the month. Normally, long about the middle of March precipitation and rising temperatures cause the snow to start melting, and runoff starts to increase which usually more or less coincides with the change in minimum flows from the wintertime rate of 11.3 cfs to the springtime rate of 35.9 cfs. It’s about mid-March that we start to install some stop logs in the weir to start raising the lake level while at the same time opening the gate to produce the higher outflows required by a the change in minimum flows. This year however there wasn’t any snow to melt so that big charge of runoff that Continue reading →

February 2020

I have archived the February 2020 Water Level Chart (at left). The lake level was pretty sedate for most of the month, falling slowly and steadily from a high of -1.09 feet at the beginning of the month to a low of -1.52 feet on the 27th. On that date we received an inch of rain which melted a good deal of our snow pack and brought the lake up almost half a foot by the end of the month.

That last rain event brought our monthly precipitation total to 3.19 inches, 0.58 inches more than the February average of 2.61 inches. For the year to date we’re already 0.39 inches above average. The dam’s control structures (weir and gate) remained unchanged for the whole month with the gate open about 4″ and no stop logs in the weir. Minimum flows will rise from the current 11.3 cfs to 35.9 cfs on March 15th at which time we’ll open the gate some more to provide the increased outflows, and will probably start adding stop logs to the weir to start raising the lake level to normal spring levels. Continue reading →

January 2020

I have archived the January 2020 Water Level Chart (at left). Not a lot to say about this chart! The lake level remained a little higher than we want it this time of year, but not outrageously so. We’ve been trying to keep it down around -1.50 to -1.75 feet below the high water mark; the actual level has fluctuated from a low of -1.52 feet and a high of -1.09 feet, a range of only 0.43 feet. We received 3.00 inches of precipitation, a little shy of the average for January of 3.19 inches. Much of the precipitation was in the form of rain. Not a lot of snow out there.