Rain and the waterlevel of Lake Trasimeno.
Today we finally had a decent day after a long period of rain, rain and more rain. There also is a good side to all the rain: the waterlevels of Lake Trasimeno have risen significantly. The lake is only fed by rain water, there are no rivers or mountain streams ending up in the lake. It is like an extra large water reservoir and its waterlevels have always been a concern. It is said that even in the times of the Etruscans and Romans they tried to find ways to stabilise the waterlevels of the lake. The Romans even made a canal towards the Tiber river to drain the water in case its level was too high. This canal (and a modern version next to it) is still visible at the Oasi della Valle, a bird watching reserve.
Waterlevels throughout the years.
The past weeks the inhabitants of the lake area closely watch its waterlevel. The historic “zero level” has been reached earlier this month and we are now at about +10 cm. In 1958 the waterlevel was at its lowest with -263 cm and in 1941 it reached its highest level at +61 cm. More recent the lowest level was in 2003 at -185 cm and the most recent high level was reached in 1988 with +54 cm.* Will we get to this level again this year? Who knows? We’ll surely will have more rainy days this spring … unfortunately!
The waterlevel of Lake Trasimeno today.
Today I decided to go and have a look myself and went to the beach and the small port of Tuoro sul Trasimeno, a nice short walk from where I live. Here are some pictures. More pictures (for who is interested) can be seen on Pinterest – Lake Trasimeno.
* Source: La Nazione.
It seems these days that weather is in extremes, either we have too much or too little rain, it’s too hot or too cold. Is this an aberration or the ‘new normal’?
Maybe it is just normal? Even the romans struggled with high and low water levels? If you speak with the elderly here, they say the water levels have always been changing a lot and there have always been periods with lots of rain. But then they add, that the winters were colder…
Volgens een trotse loco-burgemeester van Tuoro sul Trasimeno zelfs een van de schoonste meren van Italia.
Ja, daar zijn ze trots op en ze hebben waarschijnlijk gelijk. Maar als je verder Umbrie in gaat zijn de italianen helemaal niet enthousiast over het Trasimeense meer. Die denken dat we in een “palude” wonen!
Heb je de foto’s van SeriPat gezien? Ze staan op Flickr: http://goo.gl/aQisZU. Prachtige foto’s van het hoge water in Passignano, afgelopen weekend.