We are over half way to full, and the recent rain has really helped. The lake will connect with Lakewood Bay in the next few days and the refill rate will slow as more surface area gets connected.
We are still only sampling in the Main Lake since the bays and canals are not accessible. What is presented below is final data from 2023, with the only thing new being samples collected from the Main Lake.
Lake Temperature
Water temperature continues to cool, but since it is currently 44 degrees it is not going to cool much more, but we may see isolated patches of ice forming this weekend as the air temperature is supposed to drop to the high teens.
Secchi
Water clarity remained steady this fall with visibility restricted by turbidity from the drawdown and a persistent algae bloom. We are shifting from cyanobacteria to diatoms so the lake will not clear up again until around May when zooplankton wake up and start eating the algae.
Phytoplankton biovolume in Lakewood Bay has decreased a lot since September 11. There is only five percent cyanobacteria present, with 84% of the biomass diatoms, and a 75% decrease in overall biovolume. Diatoms will be the dominant population until next summer when conditions favor cyanobacteria again. We are not collecting any more data from Lakewood Bay until we refill and the bay returns.
After decreasing in mid November our phytoplankton population is on the rise again. Fortunately it is mostly diatoms this time, which is typical for this time of year. Just today we received results from our January 8 sample and diatoms are continuing to increase and cyanobacteria is decreasing.
West Bay is the only location that saw cyanobacteria biovolume increase during the September 25 sampling, but since the increase was from four to eleven percent the bay continued to be dominated by diatoms. We are not collecting any more data from West Bay until we refill and the bay returns.
