Rain, Rain, Rain.

Posted on October 16, 2019 by

15 Comments

Hello to all of you on this rather cold and rainy morning.  Seems like I say that every day.  But it’s true.  Sigh.  In September we actually set a new record for rainfall for that month.  And it still rains.  That’s not good this time of year though.  Our dam is fully open and yet our lake level continues to rise.  The high river level is at a new record for this time of year.

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The dam is open, lowered the river level by several feet on the other side.

So what’s the problem you ask?  When the lake freezes next month that will cause some serious ice damage to shorelines and properties.  That will also mean poor ice conditions on the lake, especially in areas where they need ice roads.  Yes, you heard right, ice roads.  They plow the snow off the ice making roads many kilometers long out onto the lake.  This makes it easier for people who live out there year round.

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Able to see better how much lower the river is on the other side, while this side the level was raised about 8 feet (2 and a half meters)

Plus people are able to get building supplies, gravel and soil hauled in much easier and cheaper than using barges in the summer.  Very seldom does a vehicle actually break through the ice.  Though it does happen.  Almost every year.  But with high water levels at the start of winter, that creates problems.  They have to keep letting large amounts of water out of the lake in order to handle the spring snow melt.

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The current brings constantly changing patterns on the river surface.

In years like this large volumes of water must be let out, then areas on the lake won’t freeze normally.  And maybe not at all.  Which can make it hard for ice roads if the ice isn’t good.  Yes, there are areas on the lake that never freeze, no matter how cold it gets.  The river around this area never freezes either.  Too much current, which prevents the ice from forming.  It is quite interesting to see open water when the temp is -40 (same for both C and F).

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Just a nice picture of the river.

And if we get a lot of snow, or even just our normal snowfall, this winter, that will make for a lot of water in the spring when it melts.  The ground is saturated now, and it will stay that way, even if we don’t get anymore rain before winter.  So all that water from the melting snow is just going to run off into the lake, raising water levels much higher than normal.  Plus, all this water in the ground will produce a lot of ice and deep frost this winter.

Not quite what I was going to write about, but something different anyway.  Pictures taken almost 2 weeks ago, I can’t go to the river now due to health.  I hope you all have a great day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.

Category: Autumn, Beauty, Country, Danger, Fall, Life, Nature, Outdoors, Rainy Days, River, Thoughts, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , ,

15 Comments on “Rain, Rain, Rain.”

  3. Am sorry that you got so much rain this year ! Here, we needed the rain ! Oh well…I love the aroma of the autumn rains intermingled with falling leaves !…the river currents are scary looking…excellent pics !

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    • Actually, we had a fairly dry summer, it’s only since the end of August that the rain started. Much like south of you where the farmers had so much trouble getting their crops in and probably lost a lot with that snow out there. Thanks for reading!

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