High Water Levels In Great Lakes Expected Through Fall

Lake Superior water levels are expected to be the highest they’ve been in a decade.

Numbers released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District’s Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office suggest that water levels throughout the Great Lakes are expected to be both higher than average and higher than last year through the summer and into the early fall this year.

The above average precipitation and wet conditions in April and May are the reasons stated for the increase.

The forecasted summer levels on Lake Superior, as well as lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie, will be at their highest levels since 1996-1998.

New record high water levels have already been recorded on Lake Ontario.

Here is the full press release:

DETROIT- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District’s Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office announces Great Lakes water levels are expected to be both higher than average and higher than last year through the summer and into the early fall this year.
“Above average precipitation on the Great Lakes and very wet conditions in the months of April and May pushed levels higher than originally forecasted,” According to Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of Watershed Hydrology at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District.

Due to wetter conditions the six month water level forecast has changed resulting in higher forecasted water level peaks this summer. The forecasted summer water levels on lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron, St. Clair and Erie will be at their highest levels since 1996-1998.

Based on initial data Lake Ontario has already set a new record high monthly mean water level in May. At 248.69 feet, May’s level was the highest monthly mean for any month in the 1918-2016 period of record. The previous record high of 248.56 feet occurred in June 1952.

Near record high levels on Lake Ontario are expected to persist in June, before water levels should begin their seasonal decline.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, in coordination with our partners in Environment and Climate Change Canada releases the official 6 month forecast for the Great Lakes. That forecast, called the Monthly Bulletin of Water Levels for the Great Lakes is done at the beginning of each month, with the latest edition covering the period from June to November.

To find more information about current Great Lakes current water level conditions check out: http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/Missions/Great-Lakes-Information/Great-Lakes-Water-Levels/Current-Conditions/