Right after Thanksgiving, the Erie Canal near us in Rochester was drained and appears to have dropped at least five feet. This has left a shallow basin of creamy brown water below the rocky inclined banks. I’d say the owners of this dock don’t have to worry about a wake from fast-moving boats for the next few months. The canal’s yearly cycle of water levels is controlled by the routine manipulation of guard gates spaced along the route rather than being determined by rainfall, although the focused rainstorms early last summer did cause flooding and damaged some of the locks, perhaps before the gates could be engaged. You can compare the water level shown here to the picture entry for Saturday, October 28, 2006 when the canal was still on its summer schedule. The Rochester Public Library has an online archive of Erie Canal photographs, including this page of winter images.