18 February 2011

Water in Lake George!

18 February 2011 | By johnboy

John Lafferty has sent in this aerial picture of Lake George with quite a lot of water in it for those who thought we’d see the day.

Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it to images@region.com.au .

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welkin317:39 am 20 Feb 11

A key point about understanding the erratic levels of Lake George over the decades is that unlike most lakes – the catchment is very small – see this map. Click on map to enlarge it.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ieo/murrumbidgee/maplg.htm
So any rain that increases the water level has to be exactly over the catchment.

facet9:34 pm 19 Feb 11

Any truth in the urban myth that a light aircraft flying over Lake George on a still day saw the sky beneath him and (thinking they were inverted) did a 180 degree roll?

Hercsie11:23 am 19 Feb 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doTpMwYTkck

cleo12:26 am 19 Feb 11

Great to see it’s filling up again, tried to have a look on Wednesday when coming back from Sydney, couldn’t see much because of rain.
The lake was full when I first came to Canberra in 1991, it was full for at least a few years before it just dried up, I think it’s been empty for at least 10 years.

Bom records guru10:13 pm 18 Feb 11

From memory the two highest peaks in the last 40 years, both of which got pretty close to the (old) Federal Highway, were in the mid 1970s and around 1988-1990. It dried out for a few months in late 1982/early 1983 but apart from that the last few years were the first time it had been completely dry for several decades.

There’s nothing particularly mysterious about the lake’s ups and downs – they’re closely linked to average rainfall over about a 3-5 year period. One big dump of rain isn’t enough to fill it, and one bad drought year on its own isn’t enough to dry it out unless it is already lowish.

Anna Key9:01 pm 18 Feb 11

Pommy bastard said :

Anna Key said :

Probably a Dash-8

Astounding, how did you do that?

A few hundred(!) trips between Canberra and Sydney. A jet would be a bit higher.

oddball5088:45 pm 18 Feb 11

Pommy bastard said :

Anna Key said :

Probably a Dash-8

Astounding, how did you do that?

Thanks. I simply put the lens up to the glass (using my hand around the lens and on the glass to cut down glare) and took the shot. Well a number of shots to make certain 🙂

JustThinking6:57 pm 18 Feb 11

EvanJames said :

Great to see. I remember when it was more normal for Lake George to be mostly full, even lapping up to the Federal hwy, and when the water went down, it was evidence of some kind of strange doings. How things change.

I guess the farmer who has been using it has now got to cope with the loss of a very large paddock.

LOL,
Yup as kids we used to think when the water disappeared it was ‘strange doings’ going on. All the rumours didn’t help. Then one day dad took us to buy hay from “the otherside” of Lake George and I was terrified that we would never make it home..LOL

Pommy bastard3:33 pm 18 Feb 11

Anna Key said :