Lakes Michigan and Huron are expected to stay below the high levels they reached last year but still above average moving into the next year. That’s according to the latest Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes forecast. Corps hydrologist Keith Kompoltowicz tells WSJM News the lakes were able to drop by around one foot to 15 inches this year due to a lack of rain.
“We had very dry conditions, especially in the spring of this year, and so much so that we had some pretty substantial drought begin to form across the lower peninsula of Michigan and large portions of the Michigan and Huron drainage basins,” Kompoltowicz said.
Kompoltowicz says the summer did bring some heavy rains.
“That kind of reversed the drought conditions, but it wasn’t nearly the type of rainfall that drove the levels to the record highs that we’ve experienced over the last couple of years.”
The Army Corps forecast predicts the lake levels from September to February, and Kompoltowicz says they’re likely to stay about where they are now. He’s interested to see what this winter will bring, saying a La Nina could develop and bring colder and wetter conditions. The Army Corps has put out a video explaining its monthly water level bulletins. You can see it below.
