It really has much less to do with climate, and everything to do with geology. There's a crack in the underlying sandstone that drains the lake...when the crack widens, or becomes less silted up, the drainage exceeds the rainfall and the lake drains...sometimes remaining that way for years.
Very interesting read...thanks.
And why does the lake level fluctuate, you ask? Because earthquakes are common in this region. Just little earthquakes, but those who have studied Mountain Lake believe that the joints between the sandstone formations are loose and that they shift to open and close the drain at the north end. On top of that is a 30-year trend of declining precipitation, which affects the 60 springs that feed the lake, many of which pop up between the Martinsburg and Juniata formations, on the south end.
In the incurably romantic writer’s defense she actually only made one passing comment on climate influence with the statement concerning reduced precipitation over the past 30 years.
Other than that it was a pleasant if syrupy armchair adventure, rather like reading a newspaper in I-Hop and having to leave it behind — or at least major parts of it, still stuck where ones elbows had rested.