November 2024

I have archived the November 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). The dry weather we experienced in September and October continued with a vengeance in November, normally our wettest month with average monthly rainfall of 4.58 inches. We  did end up receiving 2.81 inches or 61% of normal, almost all of it falling at the end of the month. Thanks to excess rain back in March, June, and August, we’re still almost 5 inches ahead for the year but even so, we remain firmly in Moderate Drought going into December. According to the USGS,  groundwater levels in this area are quite low, even for this time of year.

The lake level has fallen slowly but steadily this fall as you might expect given the lack of rain, and the November chart looks a lot like the October– a slow steady decline. In fact, the lake has pretty much fallen slowly but steadily since the 1st of July! This is particularly evident on the 2024 Water Level Chart. There have been a few bumps up from rain events but the downward trend quickly continued. If you look at the 2024 water level chart (at left) you can see this quite plainly. The gate has been closed since June 30th and the weir full of stop logs for longer than that but the rain we’ve received hasn’t been enough to offset evaporation and a little leakage. At -2.00 feet it is as low as we’re supposed to take it, and the lowest its lowest level since December 2018, right after we bought the dam.

While the Water Level Order gives us discretion over the top 2 feet of the lake, since the purchase of the dam we have pretty much considered -18 inches as the lower limit for drawing the lake down, mostly so as to maintain a 6 inch buffer, and for no particular reason. This year we decided to take the lake down the full 2 feet by so as to drain off as much fall turn over water as possible, hopefully to rid the lake of some of the phosphorus that was released into the bottom water over the course of the summer through a process known as Internal Loading. Time will tell if this is an effective strategy to improve water quality.

Another reason we lowered the lake so much this fall is to facilitate work that is about to begin over on Duncan Road to stabilize the shoreline in front of camps belonging to Todd Vincentsen and Brent Duncan. The shoreline on both properties is badly undercut by wave action and a good sized maple tree is at risk as well (picture at left). The land owners have obtained NRPA permits from DEP for placing riprap along their shorelines as well as approval from the Town of Jefferson. The work will be done by Plummer Excavation of Walpole at the landowners expense and is expected to start in early December. When Todd started planning for this project, he asked if we could lower the lake level this fall to make it easier to do the work, and we were happy to comply!

Much of the shoreline on Clary Lake is protected by naturally occurring stone riprap, the stone having been eroded out of the shoreline soil and pushed up against the bank over the millennia by ice action, which can exert considerable force (see “Ice Berms and Pressure Ridges“). In some areas farmers back in the 1800s who were clearing their fields of stones dumped them on the lake shore, and this too served to protect the shoreline from erosion. Waves and ice typically have no effect on these  “armored” areas. However, some sections of shoreline are not protected by rocks. The soil along the shoreline in the cove next to Duncan Road cove is one such area. The soil on the shore is a silty loam that is easily eroded. The cove is broadly exposed to winds out of the east, southeast and south where they have a goodly fetch and when a storm comes in from one of those directions, the waves pummel the shoreline eroding it, and the water in the cove turns all muddy. I’ve seen this, and I’m sure some of you have seen it too. This is bad for the shoreline and bad for lake water quality.

I’ll be documenting the shoreline stabilization project over on Duncan road and will post pictures once the work starts.