Freedom — March 26, 2010 — Since my last report eight days ago, we had an unusual water level situation. No rain, dam wide open and the level was reported at 408.2 for seven days in a row.
I had predicted and was expecting a drop of 1.2″ each day. There must be more snow in the outlying area than I had observed.
The next big event was rain most of the day on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The State is reporting .10″ each day. Considering flow from the Bearcamp went from 368 CFS to 2,052 on Tuesday, there may have been more rain in other parts of the watershed area.
Net result is that as of noon yesterday the level in the Big Lake is reported to be 409.97′. An increase of almost 2′ in two days.
For those of you on the Big Lake, you can observe where the 410′ level is on your property. For those of us not on the Big Lake it will take a day or two more before we can observe this same benchmark. Reason being that it takes some time for water flowing around Spindle Point and on to the dam to back up in the bays.
At noon yesterday I did an actual measurement from my 407.3 concrete benchmark and determined that the north end of Broad Bay is 9″ below the 409.97 level reported for the Big Lake. I will check this measurement for the next several days and let you know when it matches the Big Lake report.
ICE OUT: Winnipesaukee official Ice Out for 2010 was Wednesday, the 24th. at 2 pm. This beats the all time record of March 28th in 1921. So far no official report for Ossipee Lake but I think it was a day or two earlier.
WATER SPORTS: We had the first water skier for the season last Saturday at about 3 pm. Course was between the east shore and ice pack in the center. Only lasted for 2 or 3 loops.
Please share this story with your neighbors on the lake so they can make an observation of the water level at their property while the lake is close to 410′. Not everyone on the lake receives these email news notices. Many thanks.
You may also want to take a lot of pictures from different angles. You may need that type of documentation in the future. If possible upload them to the Alliance and possibly they can be displayed for all to see.
At noon today (Sunday) the State is reporting Ossipee Lake at a level of 409.0′. This matches my manual measurement on North Broad Bay. For the last three days the level has droped an average of 4″ per day. It should drop another 4″ before we receive the several inches of rain predicted to begin late today.
3/31/10 12:00pm
Camp Huckins is reporting that we have a dock that floated onto our property. It has a wooden ramp and wooden steps on top of it. It is about 15 ft long 4 ft wide double pontoon floating dock? An ideas as who it’s owner is? Please call 539-4710 thanks Jody Skelton