Fast River

Just a quick note to note that the river was moving even faster today, although I didn't go look at it so no pictures or video today. 711 cubic feet per second (cfs) at 11:15 a.m. EDT, which is almost twice as fast as what it's been lately. Appears to have topped out at 755 cfs today, close in competition to the spike from the major rain on March 25-26. 

USGS gauge site data - river flow (discharge) measured in cubic feet per second

the Canal Street lately

Definitely a windy day out there today and of course I forgot my anemometer

I mean really 

who does that?

 It's a fast moving river with high winds from the west today.

Hazy lake blues

Subtle shades, lines, hues, blues.

Every so often a simple grey blue is good for dreams

especially when unexpected yet slightly on time

and just before the rain.

An impromptu visit: River Raisin

Fortune smiled upon me Thursday and lead me on an impromptu adventure near the River Raisin gauge site I had been hoping to check out soon. I found the site, located on the north bank in a spot difficult to stop and photograph, so I instead gathered some pictures from the county park a half mile or so upstream. Again, the water about to be logged!

I also brought my new anemometer along this time, which I set to read out in knots and Celsius because... why not? So I jotted in my notebook the local air temperature at 21 degrees Celsius and variable winds from the northeast at 2 knots. This is particularly indulgent for a data collector who was so pleased to find USGS records eight different data parameters at the gauge site (#04176500). For now, here are the two graphs showing flow and river height. Note that these graphs show the influx of water from the rain the evening of March 25-26. The pictures are from shortly before the rain.

Finally some rain!

Finally got a whopping 1.13 inches of rain yesterday and (mostly) last night. It's been fairly dry now for almost a month so it was a nice surprise this morning when I checked the rain gauge. I ventured a short trip over to the Huron River near Gallup Park and found a new spot on the south bank. Nothing much going on except the usual, ducks and geese and trumpeter swans and the like. It's becoming something of a series, this Huron River lately.

Lake Erie strolling

Happened to stroll along the Lake Erie shore this late late afternoon. I managed to get out there before the rain became more like rain and less like mist but it was definitely colder than I anticipated. Short sleeves and flip flops! It was just so much warmer earlier in the day. Also testing out the stream quality for this new platform, the audio is a bit weird.

experimental television

A few months ago I stumbled across this great broadcast app called Periscope. It was perfect for livestreaming from the field. Unfortunately, it is discontinuing (aka being absorbed by Twitter) but today I found this great new platform called Happs. I think I like it. Can I embed it? Let's find out:

The Tuesday News

Mapmaking

Here is a map I started working on today. My goal is to add all the watersheds for Lake Erie and then fill in with my own photographs and videos over time. 

Creek to River

This is the creek and river I keep talking about

Dove into map madness this morning. 

Still trying to pull myself up and out of it but I thought I'd take a moment to share a map of the creek and river I keep talking about. The creek is the one that roughly follows the train tracks to the upper right. The Canal Street gauge site is at the bottom of the tiny triangle.

(Map snippet from the online interactive viewer at MapWashtenaw)

The last of the snow and ice

It's been quite dry now for several weeks, with zero precipitation to report on the northeast side of the city. All the snow has finally melted away from the north side of the hill. It was probably gone by yesterday but I didn't take note of it until today. So now that the snow is rapidly fading from memory, I ventured a walk into the woods. This is probably the best time to walk the trails before the rains storm in and turn everything into a mud pit. 

It was there I found the last of the ice in the dry, dry swamp.

A small patch of snow and ice center right

A small joy to find this patch, as I was slightly sad I missed the last snow photo op pondside.

A snow and ice free pond

The temperature is around 65 degrees F (12:00pm EST) with a west wind blowing in this morning and early afternoon, hinting at gale force at times. Fewer geese and ducks around today as I assume they are finding cover. This concludes my hyper-local report for the day.

 :-)

Lake Nipigon

After dreaming about being north of Lake Superior, today I found myself reading up on the source waters. The Nipigon River is one of the primary tributaries to Lake Superior.

Then I discovered that I can embed maps in this blog. This is such great news. 

Ye olde Argo Dam

I just came back from an early afternoon walk by the Argo Dam. I realized it's been quite a while since my last gallivant in this direction. Things have changed!

and of course a snapshot from my favorite river bank near Canal Street:

water flow cubic feet per second

river gage height at Canal Street site

The river collection

This is the latest in my river collection 

and Canal Street connection.

The Huron River at the Canal Street site in Ann Arbor where most of the 'river near Canal Street' videos are taken is about 150 feet upriver from a USGS river gage site. 

So basically this is the water about to be logged.

As you can see the water flow this week spiked right around the ice out dates I logged for March 2-4 and then steadily decreased. It is also notably below average water levels for this time of year.

the original flow chart

river height March 1-8 at Canal street site

Where waters meet

It was um, cold out there today mostly because of the wind chill. Still *technically* above freezing, but there were a few more car side photos taken this time around. This one I snapped while standing on a tall park bench to get a better view over the rocky shoreline.

Detroit River, facing Canada, moments before it meets the sea

Pointe Mouillee is where the Huron River lets out into Lake Erie. This short recording shows the vantage point from the Pointe Mouillee Marsh DNR Headquarters.

A view of Pointe Mouillee marsh from Hull's Trace landing

What is lovely about this region is that it is where three waters meet. The Huron River and the Detroit River (actually a strait) each flow into Lake Erie in roughly a five mile area. It makes it feel like there is a whole lot going on. 

And while breathing the cool fresh air is a nice change from being inside all winter, I am definitely looking forward to much warmer temperatures, arriving hopefully as soon as the day after tomorrow.

A clear blue sky marks the day

Okay so today was the day for official ice out of the pond.

view of the pond facing east

Aside from that I felt compelled to visit the Lake Erie shore before all the ice melts. The temperature was in the 50s and the sun was out nearly all day in the company of a clear blue sky so I knew there was no time to lose. I headed straight to the shore to visit Sterling State Park on the western basin and got a fair bit of footage. So much, in fact, that I finally filled the data card for my Nikon. 

Fortunately I take the Android Blackberry along with me now, which is actually the camera that makes sharing these photos much easier. And the blogger makes it quite simple to share my videos from YouTube. Altogether, this seems to be a good depiction of the state of the west shore. Well, at least the mile or so that I walked today.

from the mud to the horizon, I present to you: Lake Erie

the largest patch of ice and my favorite smokestacks

Ice out date log

I think I may be able to mark the dates March 1-2 for when my local pond ices out. It's the southern edge of the pond, where it edges into the hillside, that is taking the longest to thin out. Otherwise known as the snow side of the hill. You can see this on both the west (photo left) and east (photo right) sides of the pond.

My goal for this week will be to visit the lower river where it lets out into Lake Erie. Hopefully I can make it there before all the ice melts, as it is supposed to be a fairly sunny week in the 30s and 40s. Right now it is a cold start to the day at about 26 degrees F at 10am. The clock is ticking.

So my plan is to head out to the shore soon, likely tomorrow.

--- 

Update at 3:30pm: It appears there is a thin sheen of ice from overnight low temperatures and windy conditions, so the ice out dates have been postponed until further notice :-)

View of the pond facing south southwest

the March begins!

So, so close.

A little colder today though, only 35 degrees F and a bit windy so that will slow things down after yesterday's spring heat wave (which was in the 50s).

I made a trip to document the ice cover further down river yesterday and was reassured there is still plenty of it, although much less stable now. This was really such a short winter recreation season on the ice. The ice fishing folks probably have a thing or two to say about it all, I'm sure.

But the March begins! I guess March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion now? All these folklore sayings simply don't stand a chance against climate change. The cultural impacts on what constitutes 'common knowledge' is only going to get weirder over time. 

Taking this into consideration, I can appreciate that I have had the opportunity to live in one general watershed region nearly my entire life. As much as I may fuss about it some days, the benefit is that I have a core of knowledge gained from the lived experience of the seasons in this region for decades. I can sense the changes more instinctively. If this is the consolation prize for not having lived in more places across the US, and beyond, it's a pretty good one. 

Here is my recommendation for the day: take a moment to really listen to the birds that you hear outside today. Another beautiful aspect of this region is that it is central to several major North American continental flyways. This means we can observe a lot of migratory birds as they pass through. It's an exciting time for the birding community. In fact they dedicate a whole week to it, called the Biggest Week in American Birding. Only two months until the biggest week begins in early May, so it's time to get ready! 

In the meantime, check out this cool birding blog where they discuss why ornithology should be taught in high school: 10,000 Birds.