Mountain Lake: A consequence of long-term droughtPosted Sep10, 2008 at 12:21 PMIf you haven't, be sure and check out today's story by Tonia Moxley on Mountain Lake and how the Giles County lake has almost entirely dried up. While there is a significant geological component to the lake's emptying, with historical evidence of an irregular drain-and-refill cycle over centuries, the ongoing long-term drought is the current issue most responsible for the lake's draining. While tropical systems in the last couple of weeks have helped most streams and rivers recover to a reasonable flow rate, it will take several months of above-normal precipitation to help Mountain Lake recover. That's exactly what happened in late 2002 into 2003, so it's not unprecedented, even in the very recent past. Giles County did not get as much rain out of the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay in August as locations farther east, only 1-3 inches instead of the 4-7 inches common here along the U.S. 220 corridor, and got almost nothing out of Tropical Storm Hanna this past weekend. But even the bigger amounts would have had modest effect on the lake's level. While a 10-inch dump of rain could certainly make an noticeable impact, a pattern of regular rain and snow over years is needed to get the water back up to its Patrick Swayze-dousing heights seen in the 1980s movie "Dirty Dancing" shot at the lake. There is no sign of that getting under way, but maybe we can at least starting get some rain as summer gives way to fall. |
About this blog
Kevin Myatt works on the copy desk for The Roanoke Times and is its principal weather geek, writing a weekly weather column and advising the newsroom on weather topics. He helps guide students on a storm chasing trip to the central U.S. each May and was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States." .....Advertisement.....
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Comments
[September 10, 2008 8:11 PM]
Steve MurrayKevin, you are right- the Mtn Lake article was great. Looks like the weather for Barb's ordination on Tuesday is iffy with the latest NWS discussion talking about a good chance of rain then. We need to make our snowfall predictions. Since 1948 Roanoke has never recorded 2 back to back under 10 inch winters. I'm using my data for the years snowfall recording was discontinued at the airport. I feel we should have a wonderful winter with lots of snow! Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your blog as well as your newspaper column.
Sincerely, Steve M
[September 10, 2008 8:55 PM]
Kevin MyattI'm starting to get more and more people asking about first frost dates, first snows, total snowfall ... I get more traffic in winter than any other time ... with no El Nino or La Nina, we might have a chance at something resembling a "normal" winter if other things fall in line ... my early pie in the sky guess is 15-20 inches, which would be a little below the long-term average