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Over the past week, temperatures have been warmer than average across the Great Lakes basin. Lake Michigan-Huron is 4 inches higher than it was a month ago, 4 inches above its level last year, and is projected to rise 3 inches over the next 30 days. Lake Superior’s outflow through the St. Mary’s River, and Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River, are forecasted to be above average in April. - The most recent clear satellite image is this one from April 10th, which shows that the ice cover on the Bay has retreated further, but the east and north shorelines are still completely covered. All the images since then have been too cloud covered to determine more recent coverage. - Best Regards, - Rupert - Rupert Kindersley - Executive

All of the Great Lakes are currently above their levels of last year. Lake Michigan-Huron is 6 inches above last year’s levels, 3 inches higher than it was a month ago, and is projected to climb 3 to 4 inches over the next 30 days. - Lake Superior’s outflow through the St. Mary’s River, and Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River, are forecasted to be above average in April. Moreover, the outflow of Lake St. Clair through the Detroit River is predicted to be above average. - The most recent clear satellite image is this one from April 4th, which shows that the ice cover on the Bay has retreated further, but the east and north shorelines are still completely covered. All the images since then have been too cloud covered to determine more rece

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario has just released a useful guide on how to how we can all reduce our environmental footprints. Being a Guardian of the Bay also means doing what we can to reduce our individual consumption of carbon based fuels. - Here is a very good fact sheet and here is a full presentation on this topic. -

Lake Michigan-Huron has risen 2 inches over the last month, is 6 inches above the previous year’s level, and is forecasted to rise 4 inches over the coming month. - Lake Superior’s outflow through the St. Mary’s River is predicted to be above average in March. Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River and the outflow of Lake St. Clair through the Detroit River are projected to be above average. - The most recent clear satellite image is this one from March 29th, which shows that the ice cover on the Bay has retreated further, but the east and north shorelines are still completely covered. A mainly cloudy image from yesterday appears to show that more of the ice out in the middle has broken up with some blown across to the west side of the Bay. -

Check out this map, which is updated daily, for flood warnings in your area. -

Since last month, Lake Michigan-Huron has risen 2 inches, is 6 inches above its level of last year, and is projected to rise 4 inches over the next month. - Lake Superior’s outflow through the St. Mary’s River is predicted to be above average in March. Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River and the outflow of Lake St. Clair through the Detroit River are projected to be above average. - The most recent clear satellite image is this one from March 19th, which shows that the ice cover on the Bay has retreated further to about 50% coverage with the warmer temperatures, but the east and north shorelines are still completely covered. A mainly cloudy image from yesterday appears to show that more of the ice out in the middle

A new assessment by the Chicago based Environmental Law and Policy Center warns that Climate Change is expected to trigger more flooding and extreme weather, as water temperatures in the Great Lakes continue to climb rapidly. Read the CBC report here..h -

Before we have another dry summer, GBA has asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to review their forest fire rating system and protocols to reduce the risk of future fires. We do not want to see a repeat of the Henvey Inlet (Parry Sound 33) fire that devastated ~12,000 hectares of ecologically important Georgian Bay coastal habitat and destroyed 6 cottages. Read more… -