Napanee River (between Yarker and Camden East)

Clear and hot ... very abnormal for this late in September.

No rain for the last two weeks, and don’t think the remnants of Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas will bring any much-needed rainfall into our region.

Very high humidity and cloudy with a forecast of extended rain over the next several days.

Duckweed has once again disappeared.

I have not seen the total hardness and conductivity readings this low in my last several years on the river ... not sure why, but I am sure that is a good thing (as least as it applies to total hardness) ! It will be interesting to check it again around mid September to see if the trend continues.

Testing just before a major rainstorm later today.

The river level is up 1.5” following the major rainstorm late last week. We received 2.5” inches of rain.

The green algae has started to form at river’s edge, but not near the volume from recent years. This is late in the season compared to normal drier Summers.

The major rain event early this week measured 3" of rain, and surprisingly, the river went up 3" as well. The algae is almost absent, and the river weeds are way down from previous years.

The drought conditions have dropped off a bit which is a welcome sign with dragonflies, grasshoppers, snapping and painted turtles appearing in increased numbers.

Bright cloudless, sunny days continue ... now in our third week of over 30C, and the drought continues ! ... more than two weeks since the last sprinkle of rain.

Marked decrease in dragonflies on the river, next to no frogs or painted turtles, and grasshoppers (usually very plentiful) are just starting to show now.

The river level is approaching drought level of 2016. Fortunately, algae and thick weeds on the river (normally seen with droughts here) are at extremely low levels.

River level is almost at the low/drought levels of two years ago and almost 1.5 months earlier. Rainfall is intermittent and not nearly enough to keep the watershed levels up, therefore likely having an impact on invertebrates and biodiversity in rivers and streams across outer watershed.

Welcome to another year of testing.

Water temp is surprisingly warm for this time of Spring .... good enough to swim in this weekend !!

Water levels are back to normal depth after a lower than average early Spring runoff (~1.5-2 feet lower this Spring).

Our stopover, migratory ducks (ie. hooded mergansers, common mergansers, buffleheads, wood ducks) went north for nesting about 3 weeks ago. Wish they would nest around here ! All of the more common birds are busy nesting now, and many of our birdhouses are occupied (must be because of the high prices in Toronto).

Sunny, clear day and no winds.

Water is down to normal Fall levels and moving at its normal slow rate.

Beautiful late Summer day and perfectly clear skies. The dragonflies, frogs, and grasshoppers have FINALLY returned in numbers. Bees have still not been very numerous this Summer. Monarchs and Admirals have certainly been plentiful over the last two weeks.

Purple Loosestrife has mysteriously shown up in volume in our lower meadow this Summer.

The water in this narrow section is at its normal depth and running its "normal slow."

WOW ... what a difference a day makes !!

Short thunderstorm blew through the Napanee River Valley and dropped 3.5 in (or 89 mm) in less than an hour.

So much for the river level going down .... the river went up over 5 inches in that time putting our dock under 3+ inches of fast moving water.