2023 Clary Lake Ice Out Contest!

This is our fourth year running a Clary Lake Ice-Out contest. This year’s prize for first place is a $25 Gift Certificate to The Jefferson Scoop. Yay Ice Cream! If you guess the correct ice-out date  or come closest without going past it, you’re the winner. It’s quite likely that the ice will go out before the Scoop actually opens for business. You were warned. In the event there are two (or more) people who guessed the same winning date, the person guessing first (based on the recorded timestamp) will be the winner and the other less-lucky (but still lucky!) person (or persons!) will win a laminated 8.5″ x 11″ Clary Lake Depth Map as a runner up prize (see below). FYI, the earliest the lake has been deemed completely free of ice was on March 13, 2016; the latest the ice has gone out was on April 24, 2001. Last year’s “official” ice out date was March 29th which was correctly guessed by Vicki Grimaldi. She won a beautiful 12″ H x 15″ W framed loon photograph taken by David Hodsdon. We also awarded some second places prizes to a couple of lucky but not that lucky people. Visit our Ice In and Ice Out page to see all our historical data back to 2001. Reviewing historical ice-in and ice-out data is NOT CHEATING!.

Clary_Lake_and_Meadow_Depth_Map_version_1.4

We’ll be closing the contest to new guesses late on March 15th or sooner if it looks like ice out is actually imminent. Guess as often as you want, but remember: only your last guess counts! Here’s the Entry Form: Continue reading →

February 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

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February 2023

I have archived the February 2023 water level chart (at left). February did not continue the wet trend that start the new year. On the contrary. February has the smallest average monthly precipitation of only 2.61 inches but we failed to reach even that low bar, receiving only 1.35 of precipitation for the month, mostly in the form of snow. We started February fully 4 inches ahead of average precipitation, but we lost ground, ending the month only 2.74 inches above average. Despite this, because we received so much precipitation in January, outflows from Clary Lake remained extremely high for the entire month. How high you ask? In the first two months of 2022, total outflows from Clary Lake amounted to 2231 acre-feet of water. In the first two months of 2023, outflows amounted to 4667 acre-feet or more than TWICE as much water. In other words, in the first two months of 2023 more than half the full volume of the lake passed through Clary Lake. In fact, outflows in the first 2 months of 2023 far exceed outflows during the same two-month period for the last 5 years, back to 2019 with the greatest disparity occurring in 2021: Continue reading →

Our Weather Page Actually Has Weather!

We haven’t had much in the way of current local weather on this website for some time. CLA member Tim Chase has a new Davis Instruments weather station designated Whitefield Village and we’re now hosting it on our Weather page. It displays the current temperature, wind, rain, humidity, and barometric pressure. There’s also a Whitefield Village Weather Summary page which has more information for a more detailed look at local weather.

I’m not sure when Tim installed his weather station but I think it was sometime in January. He therefore missed some of January’s heavy rains. As a result, his precipitation totals and mine won’t agree this year.

There’s a neat WeatherLink app on Google Play you can install on your Android phone which gives you access to loads of weather stations all over the world, in addition the Whitefield Village station. The app provides even more information including historical data. I assume there’s one for iPhones but I haven’t checked.

You’ll also find Whitefield Village weather on the Weather Underground station KMEWHITE15.

Banner Highlights

Usually the header image/banner on the website rotates randomly. Once in a while I highlight a specific banner image for a while. Today’s banner highlight is a truly ethereal sunset taken by Mark Rowe, taken looking southwest from Mark’s home on the North Clary Road.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Last Chance Ahead!

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

If you haven’t already had a chance to observe comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), according to Colin Caissie (who manages the Brower Observatory located on the Fergusson property in Whitefield), the best chance to spot the comet will be this coming Wednesday evening before the gibbous moon rises at 7:56 PM and interferes with the comet’s visibility. The comet is rather faint  now (magnitude 8.57) and will be located just West of iota Aurigae in the Southeast and close to overhead, at an altitude of about 80°. Look for a small greenish fuzzy patch, with or without a tail. Sirius (the Dog Star) is the brightest star in the sky and it will be low on the southeastern horizon. You might also recognize Orion south of the comet’s location, and Castor and Pollux, the two bright stars in Gemini. Auriga is also a well known constellation, and Alpha Aurigae will be the brightest star in the sky at this time, close by just above and to the left (East) of the comet. Continue reading →

January 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

1 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-January-2023

January 2023

I have archived the January 2023 water level chart (at left). By far the most impressive thing about January was how much snow and rain we got! Total precipitation including rain and (melted) snow was 7.19 inches of water which is more than twice the average  precipitation for January of 3.19 inches. We’re starting off the year fully 4 inches above normal for this date. This will benefit ground water supplies this coming year. Even with all the snow and rainfall however, the water level was relatively stable though it was a little higher than we like to maintain it this time of year, due to all the inflows. January and February are usually pretty sedate months from a water level management perspective but this year we’ve had to open the gate a couple of times to let out more water just to keep the lake from overtopping the dam. There’s nothing wrong with overtopping, but this time of year it leads to ice formation which makes walking on the dam treacherous. We also like to keep the lake level lower in the winter to prevent ice damage to the shoreline. Mother nature however usually has her way. Continue reading →

Help Wanted! Inquire Within!

Welcome to the Clary Lake Association website as we enter the doldrums of winter! If this is your first time visiting our website, an extra hearty welcome, and we do hope you’ll come back. If you are a returning visitor, know that your continued interest in our website and in the Clary Lake Association is greatly appreciated. The Clary Lake Association plays a vital role in protecting and preserving Clary Lake, and we very much need interested and engaged people to keep the Association functioning and relevant. We’re an all-volunteer organization and we depend on people like you who love Clary Lake to get involved and help out. Continue reading →

You Need Access!

During the petition I posted numerous articles to this website with links to files located on my Google Drive. Then in 2021 Google rolled out a security update for Google Drive that restricted access to drive files using links that used to work fine. When you click on one of these links, instead of getting the file you get a “You need access” screen like the one above. Sorry about that. I finally got around to fixing many of the broken links but there are undoubtedly still a few kicking around, waiting to disappoint someone. If you encounter one while perusing our news feed or pages, please, make use of the blue “Request access” button and I’ll fix it for you.

Banner Highlights

Usually the header image/banner on the website rotates randomly. Once in a while I highlight specific banner images for a while. Today’s banner highlight is a truly ethereal sunrise taken by Kelley Doore, taken looking east from the old Morse Wemple home on North Clary Road:

Sign Up to Receive Post Notifications In Your Email

For a few years now we’ve been using a plugin on this website to provide a variety of features and functions. One of those functions has been collecting addresses of people who want to be notified of new posts. These have been collected by WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org) and not by the Clary Lake Association. Sadly, this plugin has become bloated and annoying, and some of the features we’ve been most interested in are going to become value-added in the near future meaning we’ll need to pay for them if we want to keep them. I’m disinclined to pay for something when reasonable (and free!) alternatives exist. Therefore, we’re getting ready to ditch this plugin and make other arrangements to implement the parts we like.

Right off we’re going to implement Post Notifications with list software we already have. This means it will be really easy to manage all your subscriptions to our lists. Any email you receive from us will have “Unsubscribe” and “Manage Your Subscription” links at the bottom. If you click on “Manage Your Subscriptions” you’ll be able to subscribe or unsubscribe to all of our available lists.

If you’ve previously subscribed to post notifications using WordPress.com (the old system), you’ll now be receiving them using our new system. If you subscribed to notifications on comments on specific posts, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. If I can implement that feature in the future, I will do so.

You’ll find a blue form on the sidebar you can use to signup for post notifications, or you can use this one:






Sign Up to receive Post Notifications in your email.


This field is required.

When I get a chance I’ll put up a page where you can review and signup for all our lists.

Happy New Year!

December 2022 Water Level Chart Archived

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December 2022

And that’s a wrap! I have archived the December water level chart (at left) bringing 2022 to a close. I guess the most impressive thing about December had to be the huge 24 hour lake level rise of 15.8″ from just 3″ of rain (and a little snow melt) on the day before Christmas for a runoff multiplier of over 5X. You can see excessive runoff this time of year because frozen ground means more rain runs off and less soaks into the ground. We’ve seen some big lake level responses to rainfall, but this is one of the biggest I can remember in a long time. Continue reading →

Official Clary Lake Ice-In Date: 12/22/2022

I’m calling Ice In today, December 22, 2022. I drove around the lake earlier checking the ice from various locations with binoculars looking for open water and I couldn’t find any. And that’s that, as my friend Ernest would say. It remains to be seen whether the ice survives the warm weather, heavy rain, and high wind forecast for tomorrow. Time will tell.

Today is day 355 of the year which is a little later than the average of 348 for ice-in, and there were 268 ice-free days in 2022; average is 252 ice-free days. We really don’t have data going back far enough to be able to see any long-term trends.

The lake was *almost* frozen over back on the 13th but there were still a few patches of open water to be found. David Hodsdon did some research into definitions of ice-in and he came up with “Ice-in is when the lake is completely covered with ice for it least one day and night and remains at least partially (say 50%) covered from then on.“

Frances Lorraine Hodsdon December 30, 1926 – December 3, 2022

It was with sadness that I learned of the passing of Frances Hodsdon earlier this month. I had spoken with her brother David just recently knew she was nearing the end of her life, but it still came as a shock. I’ve known this talented artist for many years. She has been a loyal Clary Lake Association supporter for as long as I can remember, and she will be missed. Her obituary which appears below, appeared on line in the Central Maine Papers only early this morning; the picture at left was sent to me by Linda Gallion a few days ago, she is one that Frances’ neighbors. The Clary Lake Association Board offers their condolences and best wishes to her brother David and his wife Jannette Hodson, her son Jeff Howe, and the rest of her surviving family. George Fergusson

Frances Lorraine Hodsdon

Frances Lorraine Hodsdon

JEFFERSON – Frances Lorraine Hodsdon, 95, of Jefferson, died peacefully in her sleep with her loved ones by her side on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, at the Sussman Hospice House in Rockport.

She was born in Portland on Dec. 30, 1926, the daughter of Sumner and Hazel (Woodbury) Hodsdon. After growing up in Wilton, the family moved to Massachusetts. She attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass. This was to be her destiny–producing and teaching her passion of the art of printmaking and drawing.

Marriage to Richardson Howe took her to Delaware where she started a family and continued her education. She followed her passion teaching out of the home. Later going to Ohio where she completed her BFA at Kent State University and took courses toward her Masters. She was on campus in May 1970 when four students were killed during the Kent State peace rally.

Life took a turn after her divorce and passing of her father and she was once again in Maine in 1975 on the family blueberry farm overlooking Clary Lake. Here she thrived–teaching at the University of Maine and Round Top Center for the Arts, all the while working from a home studio and immersing herself into her environment, producing work from views of the lake, blueberries and later bark on the trees. Never content with plain white she took the lowly resin chair to previously undiscovered places starting with fogging black paint on them. This led to her show in 2004, “Frances Hodsdon, Friends and Family” at Roundtop Center for the Arts.

This was not her first exhibition. In the early 1990s, as she became known in the art world, Frances’ work was featured in both solo and group exhibitions at many well-known galleries throughout Maine. Solo exhibitions include the 1991 ”Verticality” exhibit at Unity College Art Gallery, “Maui Series” at Le Va-tout Gallery in 1993 (following her trip to Hawaii), “Death & Memory” and “Paper Works” at Maine Coast Artists in 1996 and 1998, and “Etchings” at Uncas Farms in 2002. Her prints were added to collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Mass., Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, and the Portland Museum of Art, Portland. Frances was featured several times in the Portland Press Herald and as recently as September 2021 by The Boston Printmakers.

Her legacy will be the many students she taught that will carry on the love of art she instilled in them.

Frances’ family gives a special thanks to Kim, Darlene and rest of the dedicated team at Waldoboro Green Assisted Living for the wonderful care the last year and a half of her life. Also Lou Bertel of Power Play Training that encouraged her to keep her strength up with his tutelege for her long term health.

She was predeceased by her brother, James S. and wife, Phyllis Hodsdon; and nephew, Christopher A. Hodsdon.

Frances is survived by brother, David M. and his wife, Janette Hodsdon, of Jefferson; sons Jeffrey Howe of Jefferson, Gregory F. and wife Dianne Howe, Elkton Md., Bradley M. Howe, Charleston; and nieces Ann Hodsdon, Hudson, Mass., Cynthia R. Hodsdon, Reading, Pa., nephew, James P. Hodsdon, of Gloucester, Mass.; grandson, Gregory Howe, of Elkton Md.; two grandnieces and a grandnephew; six great-grandnieces and three great-grandnephews.

Services at the gravesite in Jefferson will be held in the spring at the convenience of family.

Arrangements are entrusted with Staples Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 53 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner. Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the Staples Funeral Home website, http://www.staplesfuneralhome.com

14 December 2022: Clary Lake ALMOST but NOT QUITE Iced Over

Almost-ice-in-campicYesterday afternoon Clary appeared to be fully ice covered and I was about to call it, but the bit of snow we received in the night has revealed some open water in the usual spot off the point at the end of Duncan Road, and a seam in the middle of the lake is evident as well, perhaps opened up due to the high wind this morning. In early winter there is often open water off Duncan Point (aka Young’s Point) due to the speed of the current there. We’ll see if the current ice cover will survive the warm and wet coastal storm due to blow through here this coming Friday into Saturday.

We have historical ice-in and ice-out data for Clary Lake going back to 2001. If anyone has data for years prior to 2001 I’d love to hear about it.

8 December 2022: Moon Rising with Mars

Full Moon with MarsHere’s a Clary_cam3 image of the full Moon rising, and just above and to the right you can see Mars. Last night the Moon actually occulted Mars, meaning it passed between the earth and Mars, eclipsing it. Fairly rare. It was cloudy here when the Moon passed in front of Mars about 11PM, but I hear the sky was clear some hours later when Mars finally emerged from behind the moon. Just to the right and slightly lower is Aldebaran, with a magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, one of the brightest in the night sky. Continue reading →

November 2022 Water Level Chart Archived

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November 2022

I have archived the November water level chart (at left). Our plan at the beginning of the month had been to start dropping the lake to it’s early winter level around 14”-16” below the HWM. November is actually the month with the highest rainfall with an average of 4.58 inches but the first 10 days of the month were rain-free and we really didn’t know what to expect for the rest of the month so we didn’t take any drastic management actions, preferring to let the lake find it’s own happy level. Then the rains started first with a 1.85” rain event on the 11th followed by several more rain storms over the next 5 or 6 days which brought the lake level back up to the top of the dam by the 18th. On the 23rd we pulled the last two stop logs out of the weir and the lake level started dropping again, but two more large rain events towards the end of the month (1 inch on 27th and 1.34 inches on the 30th) brought us to 5.53 inches for the month and despite having opened the gate ¾ of a foot, the lake level rose back up to the top of the dam. We ended the month with a full lake and a full inch above November’s average rainfall. This brings us to 44.29 inches for the year to date, 3.67 inches more than average. Needless to say, the drought is over for this year. Continue reading →

Website Changes Ahead

I’ve been running a website for the Clary Lake Association since I was elected President of the organization back in 2007. The first website ran on and old 486 computer in my office with the host name clary.gwi.net. Since then I’ve changed servers several times, each time moving to newer and faster equipment. For the past few years the site has been running on a rented VPS (Virtual Private Server) and honestly, the work involved in administering a unix server has become a drag. I’m now looking to simplify my life in a big way. To that end, we’re getting ready to make one final move, to a Commercial Hosting Provider. System administration will become a SEP (Somebody Else’s Problem, my favorite kind of problem!) and I’ll be able to devote my time to the site and other fun stuff rather than spending time keeping the underlying system running smoothly. This move is slated to take place somewhere around the last week of November. Continue reading →