How many inches? How many feet? Did it rain? Did it snow?
Aitkin County is fortunate to have Walt Weisser living here on Lone Lake. Amazingly, for more than twenty years, Walt has collected precipitation data. DAILY. While at times that seems like “no big deal”, there are many areas of data that take longer than a few minutes.
Each day, Walt records the precipitation here on Lone Lake. Each week, he submits a postcard sharing that information with the Aitkin Soil and Water Conservation District. That data is collected from about 20 other locations in Aitkin County and then given to the MN State Climatology Office, part of the MN DNR.
The more time consuming part comes when it snows. While Walt begins with the snow total in inches (to the hundredth of an inch), he then must melt the snow to determine the water content of that snowfall. (Remember, the heavier the snow, the more water content it has.). He has three different tools at his property to collect the data. Pictures above and below show the collection and measuring tools, including the funnel for the snow to liquid precip conversion.
Some interesting facts about precipitation over the past year:
Throughout 2023, Lone Lake was “average” in Aitkin County. About half the months we were above the Aitkin average, half the months below average.
2023 ranged from 5.53” (mostly rain) in December (remember the snow would be converted to a liquid measurement) and 0.03” in September.
Looking at January through April 2023, Lone Lake received 72.25” of snow while in 2024, January through April, showed only 15.83”.
But the lake is up? That would be thanks to the 11.25” of total precipitation Lone Lake has received in 2024, capped off by the 4.38” in May. (All that has created the best mosquito hatch in years.). We have all had even more rain these first two weeks of June.
Thanks, Walt, for all your time, effort, and knowledge and sharing it with us.
(Do you have an area of expertise that may be of interest to others on the lake? Email us at lonelakepoa@gmail.com with some details. Thanks!)