Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
The Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District released a new six-month forecast for water levels in the Great Lakes basin. Lake Superior, which did not hit record levels last summer, is expected to continue to decline towards normal depth.
Over the past twelve months, the Great Lakes have seen below average precipitation, down 15-20% versus normal. In January the departure was even more marked. Superior got only 29% of normal precipitation. Cold weather and the freezing of the lakes results in evaporation which will put further pressure on the basin in the month of February. The jet stream pattern that held for years bringing wetter than average conditions to northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula has shifted south. Eastern Iowa and the plains are already snowier than normal this season, six weeks before the calendar shifts to spring.
As shown in the graph below, Lake Superior levels are expected to be about a foot lower from June to August 2021 than they were in the same months in 2020.
