Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Great Lakes water levels bounce back
Two years of unusually heavy rainfall have finally ended record low Great Lakes water levels — good for long-suffering cargo shippers and recreational boaters — although scientists say it’s uncertain whether the recovery is temporary or heralds a lasting change.
Four of the giant lakes — Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie — were above their average monthly levels in November, while Lake Ontario was slightly below. In September, all five were above average for the first time since the decline in the late 1990s. A newly released forecast predicts little change over the next six months.
It’s a dramatic and remarkably swift rebound from January 2013, when Michigan and Huron —reached their lowest point since the government began keeping records nearly a century earlier. The others were mired in a prolonged slump.
"On Superior, Michigan and Huron, we haven’t seen two-year water-level increases of this magnitude" in recorded history, said Keith Kompoltowicz, a hydrologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district office in Detroit.
For more of the Livingston Daily story: www.livingstondaily.com
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