Mountain Lake

VIRGINIA


Mountain Lake News

Water Resources Outlook for September 2023

National Weather Service

Date: 9/21/2023

Southeast River Forecast Center Water Resources Outlook for September 2023 addressing flooding and drought issues across the southeast U.S

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Water Resources Outlook (March 2023)

Todd Hamill

Date: 3/20/2023

Water Resources Outlook for March

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Is Your Boat’s Long Winter Nap Going Well?

BoatUS News

Date: 1/1/2023

SPRINGFIELD, VA., Jan. 24, 2022 – Storms have hammered the U.S., and many recreational boats are sleeping away the winter under a layer of ice and snow. If you store your boat outside and haven’t checked up on her lately, Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) has five tips for a midwinter

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What Every Boater Wants for the Holidays: 24/7 On-Water Assistance from TowBoatUS

BoatUS News

Date: 11/14/2022

Gadgets may make good holiday gifts. However, for a boater, having 24/7 on-the-water help just a call away is much better. Like belonging to an auto club for recreational boat owners, a BoatUS Unlimited Towing Membership provides professional on-water towing services by the TowBoatUS fleet - the nation’s largest

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What Did We Name Our Boats in 2022? Top 10 Boat Names List

BoatUS News

Date: 11/11/2022

Now that recreational boating is coming to a close in much of the country, BoatUS takes a look back at the Top 10 boat names ordered this season through its online boat graphics service and provides some commentary. Andiamo: Meaning “let’s go / we go / come on” in Italian, Andiamo remains in the

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• Surface Area: 50 Acres
• Drainage Area: 1 Square Miles
Mountain Lake is a freshwater lake located in Giles County near Newport, Virginia, in the United States. Along with Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp, it is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia. It was originally known as Salt Pond, as it was where cattle were given salt.

Mountain Lake typically covers about 50 acres, and its level was largely constant at an elevation of 3,875 feet during the 19th and 20th centuries. Since 2002 it has been subject to dry-season level drops of as much as 15 feet. The last such level fluctuations occurred between 1751 and 1804 as historical accounts give widely different accounts of the lake size.

Natural lakes are common well to the north, where the Appalachian Range was subject to geologically recent glacial activity. But the basis on which this lake—the only natural one in the southern Appalachians—exists has been the source of much speculation. Recent scientific studies indicate that an unusual combination of natural processes created the lake, which is maintained by a fissure at the bottom that provides an outlet for both sediment and water and prevents the lake from otherwise simply becoming a bog. Replenishment of the water lost depends on rain levels, and apparent washing-out of sediment from the fissured bedrock bottom is causing the unstable lake levels.
The lake is estimated to be about 6,000 years old, and geologists believe it must have been formed by rock slides and damming. Cold underground springs feed the lake and rarely allow the temperature to rise above 70 F (22 C) on the surface and 46 F (5 C) 50 feet (15 m) below the surface. Because of narrow channels and openings in the lake bottom, the level has a history of changing dramatically depending on the water flow through these channels. It is more than 100 feet (30 m) deep when full. Close to the lake is one of Virginia's few virgin forests, including a rare virgin spruce bog—Mann's Bog—with an unusual array of northern disjunct species. The lake drains into Little Stoney Creek, which passes over a spectacular waterfall -- "The Cascades"—before reaching the New River.
During a severe cold wave in January 1985, Mountain Lake set the statewide record low for Virginia: -30 F (-35 C).
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