Weekly Great Lakes Water Levels Update for June 28, 2002
Weekly Great Lakes Water Level Update for January 2, 2009
Weather Conditions: Very warm temperatures and heavy
rain last weekend lead to numerous instances of flooding across the Great Lakes basin.Colder weather returned to start the workweek and a swift moving winter
storm brought 2 to 6 inches of new snow Tuesday night.Precipitation across the Great Lakes basin as
a whole was well above average for the month of December.Look for continued cold temperatures and
snow showers across the Great Lakes basin during the upcoming weekend.
LakeLevel Conditions:Currently, Lake Superior is
4 inches higher than it was at this time last year.Lakes Michigan-Huron and St. Clair are 14
and 16 inches, respectively, above their levels of a year ago, while LakesErie
and Ontario
are 7 and 9 inches, respectively, higher than last year's levels.Lakes Superior
and Michigan-Huron are forecasted to fall 1 to 2 inches over the next month.
The level of Lake St. Clair rose significantly
at the end of last month due to heavy rain and snowmelt runoff, but is
projected to fall 6 inches during the next 30 days.Lake Erie is predicted to fall an inch, while
LakeOntario is forecasted to remain
study.Through June, Lakes Superior and
Michigan-Huron are predicted to remain above their levels of a year ago.Lakes St. Clair, Erie,
and Ontario,
however, are projected to fall below their levels of a year ago in January or
February.See our Daily
Levels web page for more water level information.
Current Outflows/Channel Conditions:In December, the outflows through the St. Mary's and St.
Clair Rivers were lower than average.The outflow from the DetroitRiver was below average, while Niagara
River outflows were near average.The outflow through the St. Lawrence River
was above average.
Alerts:Lakes Superior and
Michigan-Huron are currently at or slightly below their chart datum elevations
and are expected to be below datum over the next several months. Users of the Great Lakes,
connecting channels and St. Lawrence River
should keep informed of current conditions before undertaking any activities
that could be affected by changing water levels.Mariners should utilize navigation charts and
refer to current water level readings.Ice information can be found at the National Ice
Center's webpage.
