Quote Originally Posted by drakewoodie View Post
I'm gonna assume that Milford being the largest lake in the state based on surface acreage and being 50+ feet deep in part will have a change over?
Drakewoodie,

Yes, Milford does stratify.

A few things to remember regarding Kansas lake stratification/turnover in general. The 'strength' of the turnover is dictated by where the thermocline sets up during stratification and how much of the water column is in each layer. If the thermocline is very deep (near the bottom) then a low percentage of the water is within the hypolimnion (the bottom layer of water in a stratified system that doesn't contain much oxygen). If only a small percentage of the lake's water volume is contained within the hypolimnion then the turnover may hardly be noticable. However, if a large percentage of the total water volume lies within the hypolimnion then turnover (breaking of the stratification) may cause dissolved oxygen problems/fishkills, unsightly water conditions, and taste and odor problems in treated drinking water. Most of the larger lakes in Kansas have either no stratification or intermittent stratification. Those that do stratify have a smaller percentage of water within the hypolimnion. Lakes built on larger river systems with steady inflow are less likely to see a hard stratification. However, years of drought, high temperatures, and lack of wind may provide a combination of factors that favor stratification in a lake that normally wouldn't stratify.