Category Archives: News

News from around the lake.

New Maine’s Most Unwanted Aquatic Plants Poster

Lake Stewards of Maine has released the latest “Maine’s Most Unwanted Aquatic Invasive Plants” poster. The previous version pictured 11 plants. This new one has pictured 15 plants. You can right click the image to view and download a full sized image, or click the image to view and download the file as a PDF. You’ll also find it in our Maps Charts & Graphs  gallery.

Maines-most-unwanted-poster

Clary Lake Ice Out Earliest Ever!

Last-ice-3-8-2024-20240308_142102We have declared ice out on Friday, March 8, 2024. Our records go back to 2001 and this is the earliest date we’ve recorded. The previous record was March 13, 2016. There’s still a little skim ice down in the marsh by the boat launch (likely a result of overnight freezing temperatures) and a few loose floes still in the cove on the south shore in front of David Giampetruzzi’s camp  (it’s always the last to go) but the lake itself was effectively and substantially free of ice by the end of the day Friday. The picture above and at left was taken Thursday afternoon.

Ice out occurred earlier than any of our ice out contest guesses so technically nobody was “closest without going over.” In such a situation, rather than saying “Sorry, no winner this year”  we feel justified in changing the rule to simply “closest” and “next closest” for first and second place which makes Gayle Knight with her guess of March 10th the first place winner of a $25 Jefferson Scoop gift certificate. Some of you will recall that also Gayle won the contest last year. We’re not quite sure how she managed to win our ice out contest two years in a row… she’s either cheating or she’s very lucky. She claims she just really really likes ice cream. We’ll go with that explanation 🙂

Clary_Lake_and_Meadow_Depth_Map_version_1.4Much to his chagrin, Tristan Tabor of Lake Stewards of Maine has come in second with his guess of March 11th. I’ll be mailing him the second place prize, a laminated copy of our Clary Lake Depth Map (pictured at left). Tristan is the Water Quality Program Director, Technical Director, Aquatic Scientist at Lake Stewards of Maine and is a great guy. I can honestly say he is NOT HAPPY to have won any prize at all in our ice out contest, let alone second prize. He is concerned as we all should be at the implications that a warming climate will have on lake water quality.

Clear Evidence of a Warming Climate

Normally, for statistical analysis of climate data one wants data covering as long a period of time as possible. Our ice in and ice out records only go back 24 years to 2001 but even over that short period of time we’re still able to detect a warming trend in our climate, as this chart of ice in and ice out dates shows. You can detect that the average of ice in dates (represented by the straight red line) trends upward ever so slightly, indicating that ice in is on average occurring a little later every year. Likewise, the average of ice out dates (represented by the straight blue line) trends downward ever so slightly indicating that ice out is on average occurring a little earlier every year. However, the number of ice free days (the straight yellow line) is very clearly rising since it’s reflecting both later ice in and earlier ice out dates i.e., it’s being stretched in both directions:

So this brings our 2024 ice out contest to a close. Many thanks to everyone who participated.

Ice Out Imminent (Video)

Ice out is imminent. It is hard to imagine the ice remaining on the south shore of the lake lasting another 24 hours, however we will not call it until we see it. This picture (complete with duck!) shows the condition of the ice along the south shore in Whitefield as of this afternoon. The east end of the lake down to the boat launch is already ice-free and if the wind keeps up this afternoon it will grind the remaining ice up in a hurry. This is the earliest we’ve ever recorded ice-out on Clary Lake. The previous record was March 13, 2016.

Here are couple of short videos:

5 March 2024 Ice Out Update

Steve-Cowles-3-5-2024-IMG_1186The ice is disappearing from Clary Lake even faster than I had thought it would, and judging from the ice out guestimates, earlier than most everyone else too. That said, most everyone thought it would be early this year. Perhaps just not this early. There never was much ice up in the marsh, and what little there was is gone as you can see on this lovely photograph taken by Steve Cowles earlier today (at left and above). You can also see open water on some of the Clary webcams, especially cameras 1 and 2.

If anyone is wondering why we’re using featured images on most all of our posts now, it’s so the post makes it’s way to our Instagram page! If you have what you consider a nice picture of Clary Lake, send it to pictures@clarylake.org and if it makes the cut, I’ll post it here.

February 2024 Water Level Chart Archived

2 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-February-2024

February 2024

I have archived the February 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). There was virtually no precipitation to speak of in February until the last 2 days of the month when we received a total of 1.16″ of rain! We ended the month with only 1.35 inches total, or only 52% of the normal 2.61 inches. On average, February has the least amount of precipitation of all 12 months. Despite the lack of precipitation, the lake level actually fell quite slowly over the course of the month losing only 0.36 feet all month while outflows remained quite high, thanks to January’s excessive rainfall. In fact, for much of the month of February total outflows in acre-feet exceeded those in 2023 which is amazing considering how little precipitation we received. By the end of the 3rd week of February however, outflows had fallen behind 2023 numbers and the lake level finally reached -1.5 feet. With slowing outflows, we decided it was time to add some stoplogs to the weir. The rainfall at the end of the month brought the lake up 4 tenths of a foot, ending the month at -1.09 feet or about average for the end of February. I expect the lake will rise a little more in the  next couple of days. Continue reading

[UPDATED] 2024 Ice Out Guestimates

UPDATED: There haven’t been any new entries in a few days so I decided to close the contest Most everyone believes the ice will go out in March which is tomorrow. I would like to avoid a flurry of people changing their guesses.

Good Luck!

Here are the current guesses for the 2024 Ice Out. This page is NOT updated automatically, I have to do it manually. I’ll plan to update it at least twice a day and I’ll make this post sticky to make it easy to find at the top of the News page. If you want to enter, or if you’ve already entered and want to enter again, here’s the Google Entry Form or you can use form on the original post. Remember, only your last entry counts!.

Hint: You can sort by date by clicking on the Ice Out Guess column.


2024 Ice Out Contest Guestimates

TimestampYour name:Ice Out Guess:
2/24/2024 9:15:24Lynda Despard3/15/2024
2/24/2024 9:25:03Margaret Fergusson4/1/2024
2/24/2024 9:39:15Karen Stutzer 3/28/2024
2/24/2024 10:41:34Beverley Bowen3/21/2024
2/24/2024 11:04:58Arlene Wing3/15/2024
2/24/2024 11:49:46Bill Hall 3/24/2024
2/24/2024 12:01:01Rich & Megan Luisi3/30/2024
2/24/2024 12:03:27Ronnie Spann4/1/2024
2/24/2024 13:09:15George Fergusson3/12/2024
2/24/2024 13:14:12Julie Anderson3/31/2024
2/24/2024 13:21:43Gayle Knight3/10/2024
2/24/2024 13:39:36Dedi Rapp3/25/2024
2/24/2024 15:07:59Wynne G Keller3/27/2024
2/24/2024 16:23:51Kate Seba3/25/2024
2/24/2024 18:49:19Ellis Percy3/26/2024
2/24/2024 18:52:17JoAnn Tribby3/22/2024
2/24/2024 21:47:47Stephen Viti3/23/2024
2/24/2024 22:53:57Brian Vogel3/29/2024
2/25/2024 8:31:50Donna Roeckel3/20/2024
2/25/2024 16:10:22Carolyn Curtis 3/17/2024
2/25/2024 16:30:40Margaret Fergusson3/17/0024
2/25/2024 18:02:22Cindy Norman3/17/2024
2/25/2024 18:02:23Ben Giguere 3/14/2024
2/25/2024 18:32:21Cheryl Smith3/26/2024
2/25/2024 20:45:54Erin Trundy3/19/2024
2/26/2024 7:50:41Don Hogg3/21/2024
2/26/2024 9:54:55Steve Relyea3/13/2024
2/26/2024 16:32:03Tristan Taber3/11/2024
2/27/2024 16:48:58Vicky Grimsldi3/18/2024
2/27/2024 18:14:54Thomas Gillette3/23/2024

2024 Clary Lake Ice Out Contest!

This is our fifth year running a Clary Lake Ice-Out contest. This year’s prize for first place is the same as last year’s prize, 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. As soon as the Scoop opens, we’ll pick up the certificate and get it to you.

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 Clary_Lake_and_Meadow_Depth_Map_version_1.4runner 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 other 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! 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. A few hints: 1) Use the little little calendar icon thingy and select your date guess  by clicking on the calendar, this helps prevent botched dates and 2) I’ll plan to update the list of people’s guestimates at the bottom of this message several times a day 🙂


2024 Ice Out Contest Guestimates

TimestampYour name:Ice Out Guess:
2/24/2024 9:15:24Lynda Despard3/15/2024
2/24/2024 9:25:03Margaret Fergusson4/1/2024
2/24/2024 9:39:15Karen Stutzer 3/28/2024
2/24/2024 10:41:34Beverley Bowen3/21/2024
2/24/2024 11:04:58Arlene Wing3/15/2024
2/24/2024 11:49:46Bill Hall 3/24/2024
2/24/2024 12:01:01Rich & Megan Luisi3/30/2024
2/24/2024 12:03:27Ronnie Spann4/1/2024
2/24/2024 13:09:15George Fergusson3/12/2024
2/24/2024 13:14:12Julie Anderson3/31/2024
2/24/2024 13:21:43Gayle Knight3/10/2024
2/24/2024 13:39:36Dedi Rapp3/25/2024
2/24/2024 15:07:59Wynne G Keller3/27/2024
2/24/2024 16:23:51Kate Seba3/25/2024
2/24/2024 18:49:19Ellis Percy3/26/2024
2/24/2024 18:52:17JoAnn Tribby3/22/2024
2/24/2024 21:47:47Stephen Viti3/23/2024
2/24/2024 22:53:57Brian Vogel3/29/2024
2/25/2024 8:31:50Donna Roeckel3/20/2024
2/25/2024 16:10:22Carolyn Curtis 3/17/2024
2/25/2024 16:30:40Margaret Fergusson3/17/0024
2/25/2024 18:02:22Cindy Norman3/17/2024
2/25/2024 18:02:23Ben Giguere 3/14/2024
2/25/2024 18:32:21Cheryl Smith3/26/2024
2/25/2024 20:45:54Erin Trundy3/19/2024
2/26/2024 7:50:41Don Hogg3/21/2024
2/26/2024 9:54:55Steve Relyea3/13/2024
2/26/2024 16:32:03Tristan Taber3/11/2024
2/27/2024 16:48:58Vicky Grimsldi3/18/2024
2/27/2024 18:14:54Thomas Gillette3/23/2024

January 2024 Water Level Chart Archived

1 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-January-2024

January 2024

I have archived the January 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). With an average monthly precipitation of 3.19 inches, January is normally the least wettest month next to February which averages only 2.61 inches of precipitation, usually in the form of snow. This year however we received 3.82 inches or water or 120% of our normal precipitation on top of the whopping 16″ of surplus rainfall we received in 2023. We had to release a lot of water in January from surface runoff from rain and snow melt and also from ground water to keep the lake level down where it belongs this time of year.  We still had water overtopping the dam when the lake rose to within a tenth of a foot of the high water mark on January 14th, an unusual circumstance in January. Continue reading

Watershed Survey Volunteer Update

The response to our post looking for volunteers (see: 2024 Clary Lake Watershed Survey: Volunteers Needed!) has been good! I’m happy to announce that we’ve lined up a sufficient number of people to assist with the watershed survey this coming spring. That said, it certainly can’t hurt to have a few extra people lined up so if you were on the fence about volunteering for this important project, please consider doing so! There is plenty of work to go around.

Many thanks in advance to the people who’ve signed up to volunteer:

Anya Lagasse, Ashley Prescott, Brian Vogel, Carolyn Curtis, Charlene Andersen, Cheryl Smith, Dave Knight, Dee Ann Grazioso, Eric Sroka, George Fergusson, Julie Cowles, Kathryn Ference, Malcolm Burson, Megan Breece, Michael Keller, Paul Devlin, Steve Cowles, and Wynne Keller.

A Sunny Winter Day

Clary_cam3 casts a shadow on the lake on this clear, cold, sunny day. I don’t really have anything to say, I was just thinking it was time for a picture. I haven’t seen anyone ice fishing, but I heard someone drilling holes with an ice augur yesterday.

2024 Clary Lake Watershed Survey: Volunteers Needed!

clarylake_with_watershedOur Watershed Steering Committee has begun planning the 2024 Watershed Survey, with the assistance of DEP Staff. This is not our first watershed survey, the picture at left is the actual Clary Lake watershed map developed for the 2001 watershed survey. While the watershed itself hasn’t changed in 22 years, a lot of land development has occurred in those intervening years. It is way past time to take this important step in protecting and preserving Clary Lake and its water quality.

The purpose of a watershed survey is to identify sources of non-point source pollution- areas where soil erosion is taking place within the watershed such as along shorelines, gravel driveways, camp roads, road side ditches, dysfunctional culverts, etc. Runoff from rainstorms and snowmelt can result in soil erosion and sedimentation which makes its way into the lake, bringing with it sediment and nutrients, the most damaging of which is Phosphorus.  If you’ve been paying attention over the years, you’ll know that Phosphorus is the primary cause of algal blooms and If we want to keep our lake free of blooms (see picture at the top of this post), we need to reduce the amount of Phosphorus entering the lake. A watershed  survey is the first step in doing that.

Once we’ve completed a watershed survey and have developed a Watershed Plan, we become eligible for Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Control Grants. DEP administers Nonpoint Source (NPS) grants to help communities make progress restoring or protecting waters named as NPS Priority Watersheds (Nonpoint Source Priority Watersheds List). While Clary Lake is not listed as an “Impaired” lake,  it IS on the list of Threatened Lakes, making it eligible for 319 funds- a dubious distinction but an important one! Grants for projects are funded with monies provided to DEP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Section 319(h) or Section 604(b) of the Clean Water Act.

Volunteers Needed!

We’re going to need roughly 15 volunteers to help with the actual field work of the survey. The plan is to divide the watershed into 4 roughly equal sized sectors and assign each sector to a survey team consisting of 3-4 volunteers and a Technical Specialist who will oversee and guide the survey fieldwork. It is anticipated that the  actual field work will take approximately one day to complete. It will obviously be a long day! Food and refreshments will be provided.

The survey is to take place on Saturday May 4th (rain date, Sunday May 5th). Volunteers will need to attend a Zoom training session held a week or two before the survey. The training will be offered several times to accommodate varying schedules. To volunteer to help with the watershed survey field work or to volunteer in any other capacity on this important project, please email watershed@clarylake.org or call George Fergusson @ 207-242-2256. If you have any questions at all about the survey or why we’re doing it, please do not hesitate to contact us!

CLA Hors D’oeuvre Party Announcement!

It’s never too early to beat the doldrums, or plan to beat the doldrums!! We’re looking to do just that this coming February when we expect the Winter Doldrums to be at their peak! We’d like to gather as many Members as we can to join in celebrating being together, and to break up the monotony and cold of the long winter with some warm cheer and friendly conversation. To that end we’re planning a party on February 24, 2024 at 7 PM at the home of our President, Gareth Bowen and his lovely First Lady Beverley! Their house is down at the end of the long driveway at 739 Gardiner Road in Jefferson in the field overlooking the lake (MAP). Various events have been held there over the years including our first Doldrums party back in February 2020, just before the COVID pandemic started. It was a great party and we’ve wanted to do a repeat of it ever since, and this is the first year when it seems feasible. We hope you can make it!

Mark your calendars!! This party is going happen regardless of the weather, but if there’s a major winter storm underway making travel unsafe or impossible, we’ll put the party off to the following weekend, same time, same place.

Please bring an hors d’oeuvre or light fare dish to add to what is sure to be a smorgasbord of little party delights, and whatever beverage you care to consume. Hope to see you there!

December 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

12 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-December-2023And that’s a wrap! I have archived the December water level chart (at left and above) bringing 2023 to a close. Once again as has happened so often this past year, December rainfall vastly exceeded the monthly average. We received 7.47 inches of rain in December, 4.03 inches more than the average of 3.44 inches. We ended the year with a total of 60.31 inches of precipitation, 16.25 inches more than the annual average of 44.06 inches. To say it was a wet year doesn’t quite do it justice: we got soaked in 2023! All this rain resulted in some wild swings in the lake level in December with it twice rising above the High Water Mark resulting in gentle overtopping of the dam. This isn’t actually all that unusual. Despite our efforts to keep the lake level “down where it belongs” going into Winter, over-topping in December happens roughly 3 years out of 5. Continue reading

That Was The Week That Was!

after-the-12-18-23-stormIt seems kinda silly now looking back on the post “10 December 2023: Bracing for a Big Storm” and all the concerns we had at that time about potential wind and rain damage after the absolute pounding the State of Maine took on Monday. On Monday they reportedly clocked winds at Pemaquid Point of 105 mph. That’s humming! The wind wasn’t that high here inland, but the wind was still terrifying and plenty strong enough to knock down trees the telephone poles (see above). You’ve no doubt seen the pictures of the Kennebec River overflowing it’s banks and flooding downtown Gardiner, Hallowell, and Augusta and other pictures and videos from around the State showing roads washed out or blocked with down trees and powerlines. We and most everyone else in Midcoast Maine lost power about 8 AM on Monday the 18th and for us here on the south side of Clary Lake, it didn’t return until about 3 PM Thursday afternoon thanks to the broken off pole (pictured above) just into Jefferson on Route 126 which delayed restoration efforts. At the time of this writing on Friday morning there are still 31,000 CMP customers without power, down from a half a million just a couple of days ago. Continue reading

10 December 2023: Bracing for a Big Storm

20231210_140720The picture above shows Steve Cowles opening the gate in the Clary Lake dam in anticipation of a lot of rain: we’re in for a big storm later tonight and on through tomorrow with heavy rain and high winds. A few days ago it looked like we’d only be grazed by it but as it got closer, it got worse. Right now the prediction is for 50+ mile per hour winds and between 3 and 5 inches of rain. The worst wind is expected downeast. Flood warnings have been issued State-wide through Tuesday. Even with the gate and weir wide open (picture at left) and with the lake down over a foot, overtopping of the dam is likely. With partially frozen and totally saturated ground, runoff is expected to be substantial and because the wind is from the South, power outages are expected. That is not a wind direction trees in Maine are used to it. Continue reading

UPDATED: 7 December 2023: Clary Lake Is (ALMOST) Iced In!

ice-in-12-7-2023[UPDATE NO. 2] I did get out this morning and can confirm the lake is solidly frozen end to end and side to side. I suspect the open water I saw yesterday over by Duncan Road was due to seepage of 48° groundwater into the lake, it being enough to ward off freezing until last night’s single digit temps. Whether the ice survives next Monday’s warm rainstorm remains to be seen but for now, as of 8 December 2023, Clary Lake is officially frozen over.

[UPDATE] I’m sorry I didn’t go check the lake sooner or I’d have held off on posting this so-called news! There’s a small expanse of open water along the shoreline over in the cove by Duncan Road in front of the French, Vincentsen, and Duncan camps. So while the lake is 99.9999999% frozen over, it’s not 100% frozen over and the meteorological conditions necessary for ice-in have not been met. I’m calling it Almost Ice-in.


An overnight temperature of 9° degrees was enough for Clary Lake to completely freeze over. I’ve only checked the webcams so far, I’ll take a drive around the lake in a while and confirm it is completely frozen over and if it is, I will record today as the initial ice-in date. In any case, I wouldn’t venture out there on foot just yet! Give it a couple of more days and then tentatively test the thickness in various spots. You want a solid 3 inches to walk or skate on. Don’t be foolish.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if it opens up again before finally freezing over for the winter: it is supposed to warm up this weekend and Sunday through Monday a large warm weather system is going to blow through with strong southerly winds and heavy rains. It’s unlikely the ice we see today will survive that.

04 December 2023: First Snow at Clary Lake

I woke up this morning to the first snow this fall on Clary Lake, and a short power outage, offering me an opportunity to test my generator (it worked fine). It sure looks like winter out there, but it’s pretty warm out. I expect this 2+” of new snow will not last. The lake is still open but there has been ice in the coves off and on this past week so it’s clearly getting ready. We’re just waiting for some sustained cold weather for it to freeze up once and for all. It’s going down into the low teens for a few days this week so there’s a good chance the lake will skim over if it remains calm overnight, but I think a solid freeze up is still a few weeks off. Now is the time to think about getting your skates sharpened and the ice boat ready! When there is ice suitable for skating or ice boating, you best be ready to go because it usually doesn’t last long before snow makes an appearance. Continue reading

November 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

11 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-November-2023

November 2023

I have archived the November 2023 water level chart (above, and at left). November is normally the wettest month of the year with average rainfall of 4.58 inches but this year we fell a little short, receiving only 3.24 inches of rain with most of it falling in the latter half of the month. However, we’ve already received 52.84 inches of precipitation this year so we’re way ahead of the average of 40.62 inches of rainfall for November. As it stands now, 2023 will be a record year for precipitation even if we don’t get any more rain (or snow) between now and the end of the year.