Perfect lake level!

Just a day later the lake level is noticeably down. It may only be an inch or two of difference, but how much water is that when the surface area of the lake is a couple square miles???

Aha! More information! If we can trust Wikipedia…
The surface area of this lake is 1,750 acres (710 ha) = 2.734375 miles².
Soooo…

Method 1
» 1 mile = 12 in/ft × 5,280 ft = 63,360 in.
» 1 square mile = 63,360in × 63,360in = 4,014,489,600in².
» Lake surface area = 2.734365mi² = 10,977,079,855.104in².

If the depth changed by 1½", then the lost volume is
10,977,079,855.104in² × 1.5in = 16,465,619,782.656in³.

At 231in³ per gallon, the total water loss in the last day was
16,465,619,782.656in³ ÷ 231in³/gallon = 71,279,739.32 gallons.

Method 2 (from my rowing guru Alan B, a retired freshwater biologist)
“A little more seat of the pants that you can do in your head”:
1750 acres × 1.5"/12 in per ft = 218 acre-feet
“About 1 million gal in 3 AF (fact that all freshwater biologists know),” so
218 acre-feet × 1 million gallons per 3 acre-feet = about 72.7 million gallons.

So the lake lost more than 70 million gallons of water in the last day (12:15 p.m. to 11:48 a.m.) to
(1) evaporation,
(2) spillage into Little Cedar Lake (minimal) and
(3) any draw for the municipal water supply. :)

Looking back
1 year ago: “Lantana camara: Unopened flowers”
2 years ago: “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wyoming Valley School”
3 years ago: “Stink bug”
4 years ago: “Black-and-Yellow Argiope”
5 years ago: “Virginia Pokeweed”
6 years ago: “Pearl Crescent”
7 years ago: “The long cast comes off (at long last)!”
8 years ago: “Hey, there’s a master gardener next door!”
9 years ago: “August abstract #2”

[ IMG_0816S9x6Utm :: P&S ]

5th August 2020 5th Aug 20