We noticed today, Thursday October 8th, 2020 that the lake had a little less algae in the water column and a small increase (~1 Foot) in water clarity at our open water monitoring site as last Sunday. We did not see any algae surface scum today. Near shore water is clearing up faster than open water. The black and white Secchi Disk is laying on the lake bottom in 3.5 feet of water. See today’ pictures below:
Today, Thursday October 8th, 2020, the lake was still isothermal. Isothermal means the water column has uniform water temperature from top to bottom. The water temperature dropped about 1 degree C (1.8 F) from last Sunday due to colder weather this week. The dissolved oxygen level is still relatively high and well mixed from top to bottom. This means that currently no additional legacy phosphorus is being released from the bottom sediments.
1 meter (m) = 3.3 Feet and 1 Degree Centigrade ( C ) = 1.8 Fahrenheit (F)
Always use your own visual assessment before making contact with the lake water at this time of year as the blue-green algae situation can change daily if not hourly. Please regularly check the DEC HABs alert map for more detailed updates on Honeoye Lake HABs alerts:
Finger lakes Community College is starting it’s Speaking of Nature Talk series. This year these nature talks will be via WebEx rather than in person at the FLCC Muller Field Station. The next nature talk is:
Here is the link to register for the event (not clickable in the above image):
October 4, 2020 Honeoye Lake Update (Click Here)
Surface Water Temperature: 63.5 F
Water Clarity: 5.6 Feet
Lake Level: 803.3 Feet above sea level
Lake Level Relative to Weir: -0.2 Feet
Observations: Sunday (10/4/20), Today the amount of algae in the water column was visually about the same as last Monday in open water, but visually declining in shallow water. However, there still is Anabaena and Microcystis (blue-green algae) visible in the water column. We did not see any algae surface scum. We took the near shore pictures below today and the beautiful Fall color picture last Monday 9/28:
Water clarity decreased by ~1 foot to 5.6 feet over the last week. Today’s visual water clarity decline was probably due to last Monday 9/28 having a bright sunny sky versus today which had a completely overcast sky. This water clarity is a little below normal water clarity for late September (Water Clarity Ave. ~6.6 Feet). Surface water temperature decreased about 3.6 F to 63.5 F. Lake level was 803.3 feet above sea level the same as last week.
The lake was still isothermal. Isothermal means the water column has uniform water temperature from top to bottom. The surface water is colder than last Monday due to the colder fall weather over the last week. The dissolved oxygen level was also relatively high and well mixed from top to bottom in the water column. This means that currently no additional legacy phosphorus is being released from the bottom sediments given the relatively high dissolved oxygen level near bottom.
1 meter (m) = 3.3 Feet and 1 Degree Centigrade ( C ) = 1.8 Fahrenheit (F)
Anabaena and Microcystis are a species of blue-green algae that we see starting usually after a lake mixing (turn over) event. Anabaena and Microcystis have the potential to produce toxins that can be harmful to people and pets. We strongly urge you to follow the DEC guidelines of “Know it, Avoid it, Report it” For more info go to: https://www.honeoyelakewatershed.org/habs
Always use your own visual assessment before making contact with the lake water at this time of year as the blue-green algae situation can change daily if not hourly. Please regularly check the DEC HABs alert map for more detailed updates on Honeoye Lake HABs alerts:
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