Finally, the Lake of the Woods water level appears to be on the way down. Let the dock repairs begin. ☹️
Tag: water
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Peak?
Has Lake of the Woods reached it’s peak level yet? Perhaps. Signs are encouraging as a recent report indicates a 1/2″ drop in a week.
After a very rapid rise it’s starting to decrease To say the lake is a little high is an understatement. It passed the 2014 high water level by a long way and our dock is holding on by a thread at this point. No loss of lumber but going up and down like a yo-yo with the waves and wakes.
Buckets and garbage cans full of water trying to hold the dock top from breaking up Inflow to Lake of the Woods is decreasing as the major upstream lakes in the basin have peaked and are dropping.
These much drier conditions have caused all tributary flows across the basin to drop considerably and return to high-normal or normal flow rates for this time of year. All major lake inflows have also peaked and have returned to a high-normal range for this time of year. Finally, with these drier conditions being sustained and allowing inflows to continue to trend downward, all major lakes have also peaked. Lac Seul and Namakan Lake levels are very close to their normal range for this time of year. Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods levels remain exceptionally high, but significant reductions in level are expected for the months of July and August on these two lakes should dry conditions persist.
http://lwcb.ca/noticeboard/2022/07/07/2022-07-07-june-precipitation/Estimates are that if the weather is dry that levels may return to normal by mid-august. What is normal? Well, that’s a 2 1/2 foot drop from the current levels to what is considered the top end of the operating range for the lake. That drop would be just right for our dock situation.
Outflows from the Lake of the Woods are at maximum as the Norman dam remains fully open.
July 4, 2022 at the Norman Dam -
High and going higher
Oh yeah, the water is high and getting higher in the coming week and it’s raining today.?
Lake of the Woods water levels are now higher that I’ve ever experienced in 40+ years of lake life. It’s well over our original dock.
Our floating dock section is now riding higher that the fixed section and we normally use a 3 step ladder to get down to the floating dock!. Also in this picture. below the far end has been floated up several inches but still seems to be attached to the underlying crib. I’m sure there will be some repairs needed when the lake goes down.
That right hand end shouldn’t be tilting up like that! The boat ramp that last year I had to put a skid extension on to get the boat over some rocks because the water was so low is now almost getting ready to float away. The back end is floating and I think the boat on the new roller system is helping to hold it down a bit.
Record precipitation this spring in the basin has lead to record inflows to the Lake of the Woods resulting in very high levels.
The current level of Lake of the Woods is 323.89 m (1062.6 ft), over 95th percentile level for this time of year. The average lake level rose by 10 cm (4 in) over past week. The lake level has risen above the 2014 peak of 323.78 m (1062.29 ft) and is below the record peak since regulation began of 324.31 m (1064.0 ft), set in July of 1950.
http://lwcb.ca/noticeboard/2022/06/01/lake-level-forecasts-2022-06-01/The level of Lake of the Woods is expected to rise by approximately 9-12 cm (4-5 in) over the next 7 days
http://lwcb.ca/noticeboard/2022/06/01/lake-level-forecasts-2022-06-01/This next jump in the level could put the whole dock at risk ☹️. Return to normal lake levels “could be many weeks out”.
On the bright side the boat slip could now float the Queen Mary ?
Lower kayak is touching the water A view from the boat.
