As 2014 winds down, no sign that levels won’t keep rising in new year
LAKE HURON—According to Environment Canada’s latest installment of the publication LEVELnews, with the exception of Lake Ontario, water levels of all the Great Lakes remained above average in October.
“Generally wet conditions continued and water supplies to each of the lake’s basins were near or above average in October,” the publication states. “As a result, water levels have yet to begin their seasonal decline on Lakes Superior and Michigan-Huron.
Lake Michigan-Huron’s mean level in October was 11 cm above average, the highest mean level recorded since 1998, and up 53 cm from last year.
“Lake Michigan-Huron continued to rise with above-average inflows from Lake Superior combined with above-average water supplies resulting in the lake level rising by two cm, when on average it falls by seven cm,” the report states. Levels of all the Great Lakes remained above last year’s levels at the beginning of November, with the exception of Lake Ontario, which is currently 10 cm below where it was last year at this time.
Lake Michigan-Huron’s beginning-of-November level was 15 cm above average, 55 cm higher than last year and the highest beginning-of-November level since 1997,” LEVELnews continues. Higher beginning-of-November values have been recorded on Lake Michigan-Huron 35 times since 1918.
Depending on the level of ice cover for Lake Huron this winter, Islanders could conceivably see this trend of rising water levels continue into the spring.
