Quote:
Originally Posted by TownieRinker27
Hi all, I was anchored on the western edge of Ragged yesterday and in an effort to escape the oppressive heat, I decided to take a plunge. When I was choosing my "landing spot", I noticed a grey cloud floating just above bottom with an amorphous shape. It may have been attached to the bottom somehow, but since it looked repulsive, I avoided it. I should have taken a picture, but didn't.
My question, maybe naive, but was it "rock snot" (didymo)?  |
Most likely the basketball-size, "tumbleweed-type" shapes of green algae that have appeared in our quiet waters—since about 1994. In one especially explosive year, we (and one neighbor) had our water intake stopped-up by an algae cloud. No clouds appear in the below photo: we draw from deeper water now, but algae has still taken up residence!
For this 2018 season, these clouds first started appearing in Winter Harbor in early July. It's probably the same algae that starts growing high on the long stalks of native lake plants.
I suspect that oversized-boat wakes are pulling in nutrients from degrading shorelines and "feeding" the algae.
More supporting data from member
shore things:
https://winnipesaukee.com/forums/sho...06&postcount=9
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