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Great Lake Water Levels Expected High For the Summer, Some Record Highs

http://lre-wm.usace.army.mil/ForecastData/GLBasinConditions/daily-GLWL-Graph.pdf
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Army Corp of Engineers

All of the Great Lakes are projected to have higher than average water levels over the next several months, with Lakes Superior and Erie expected to break records.

 

Keith Kompoltowicz, Chief of Watershed Hydrology at the Army Corp of Engineers in Detroit, said “It is very likely that Lake Superior either ties or exceeds its record for the month of may and will likely break the records for the months of June and July. Lake St. Clair is likely to break its record for May, and Lake Erie will very likely tie or even exceed its record for May.”

Kompoltowicz said that wet weather over this season and past years is responsible for the water levels. He said, “we’ve seen, over the past several years, consecutive seasons with wetter than average conditions, so that’s more snow in the winter time, more rain in the spring, even more rain in the summer and fall, and the consecutive nature of those seasons allows the lakes to continue to rise.”

Kompoltowicz said if the rainy weather continues we could see more records for Lakes Superior and Erie later in the summer, and even potentially into fall.

 

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