POINTER94
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Messages
- 5,031
Great Lakes water levels rebound<br /><br />Lake Michigan sees 7-inch increase from last year; still 17 inches below average <br />By Peter Rebhahn<br />prebahn@greenbaypressgazette.com<br /><br />By the numbers<br />Scientists record water levels in the Great Lakes by measuring their height above sea level. These statistics for Lake Michigan are in inches:<br /><br /> Current (March 19) level: 577.1<br /><br /> Difference from last year: + 7<br /><br /> Difference from long-term March average: -17<br /><br /> Difference from highest ever March level: -48<br /><br /> Difference from lowest ever March level: +17<br /><br />Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers<br /><br /> <br />Lake Michigan is 7 inches higher than it was this time last year, but its still 17 inches below the historic averages for March.<br /><br />While the lake level should continue to rise, dont expect more than another 4 or 5 inches through August, said Marie Strum, chief of the watershed hydrology branch for the Detroit District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.<br /><br />Still, its good news for boaters, shippers and beachgoers, all of whom have suffered during the past few years as water levels dipped to 30-year lows.<br /><br />Water levels on Michigan and Huron are improved over last year at this time, but theyre still significantly below average, Strum said.<br /><br />A substantial snow pack in the Lake Superior basin means that lakes Michigan and Huron, which are really one system, should continue to rise.<br /><br />The snow pack feeds the system throughout the spring and early summer, Strum said.<br /><br />Practically all of the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair are expected to be above last years levels, said Cynthia Sellinger, a hydrologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich.<br /><br />All are still well below long-term averages.<br /><br />The receding waters of the last six years stranded canal-dwelling boat owners in St. Clair Shores, Mich., and forced shipping companies to lighten their loads to avoid scraping bottom in the lakes and connecting channels.<br /><br />The drops also generated heated battles between property owners itching to remove the mucky, emergent wetland vegetation from their new beachfront and environmentalists who say those wetlands are an invaluable natural resource.<br /><br />A little additional water this year will lessen that friction.<br /><br />In some areas, 4 or 5 inches can make a pretty significant difference, Strum said.<br /><br />This years predictions are based on a number of factors, including more precipitation in the Great Lakes basin and ice cover that prevents evaporation from sucking moisture out of the freshwater seas.<br /><br />Ice cover in the winter of 2002-03 lasted well into the spring, keeping last summers water temperatures low and reducing evaporation. This winters ice wasnt as extensive as last year but was better than previous years, which were some of the warmest on record, said Raymond Assel, a scientist with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations research lab in Ann Arbor.<br /><br />Fair amounts of snowmelt also are replenishing the Great Lakes basin, which contains 20 percent of the worlds supply of fresh surface water.<br /><br /> Knight Ridder Newspapers