I’ve been working with old air photos of Devils Lake, ND from the late 1940’s and it every time I get another photo rectified I’m astounded by what the lake looked like back then. If you know the area, this image was the south end of Camp Grafton down to where the casino is now. You can see hiways 20 and 57. Here is what it looked like then and recently.
WarrenMN
Is the lake still growing today?
And why? I always wondered, but never asked.
Weather patterns change and Devils lake is an enclosed basin till it hits some where around 1457 or so. The lake had been even lower in years previous to this, late 30’s early 40’s, due to drought but over time more water fell on the area than evaporation removed. As the lake level increases the lake surface increases till at some point the size of the lakes losses equals whats coming in.
The lake is currently at 1450 plus a couple inches. It had gone down last year from the high it hit but then this spring they got heavy late snows and heavy early summer rains and the lake came back up 3 ft to today’s level. What it’ll do next is any one’s guess.
WarrenMN
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