New research shows that the frigid arctic-like weather the Great Lakes and Eastern United States have been experiencing this winter will likely contribute to a healthy rise in Great Lakes water levels in 2014.
Rising and falling water levels in the Great Lakes are influenced by a number of factors, including evaporation, rain and snowfall, according to a news report published in the Petoskey News-Review in Petoskey, Michigan.
“This winter’s bitterly cold weather is forming ice on areas of the lake that will reduce evaporation by blocking water vapor from rising into the atmosphere and keeping water temperatures cool well into the summer,” the paper reports.
“That should help water levels continue a rebound that began in 2013 following an unusually long slump across most of the lakes dating from the late 1990s.”
Photo by Mark Bauhs
