2020-Jun-15
June 14 Water Levels Report
Water levels continue to be well above average and near or above record high levels.
From a month ago the water levels on Lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron, St Clair, Erie & are up 3, 4, 3, & 3 inches respectively, Lake Ontario is down 2 inches. Lakes Superior, Ontario, & Erie are down 6, 2 & 23 inches, respectively, and Lakes Michigan-Huron & St. Clair are 6 & 2 inches higher, respectively, than they were at this time last year. Lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron, St Clair, Erie & Ontario are 10, 35, 32, 29 & 10 inches, respectively, above their long term June average. Lakes Michigan-Huron is 5 inches higher than it’s previous record high for June. All the other lakes are either at or below their June record high.
In a month’s time, the level of Lakes Superior & Michigan Huron, are expected to rise by 2 & 1 inch respectively, Lake St Clair is expected to be unchanged, and Lakes Erie & Ontario are expected to be down by 2 & 3 inches, respectively. Outflows from Lake Superior into the St. Mary’s River and Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River are predicted to be above average for this month. Lake St. Clair’s outflow through the Detroit River and Lake Erie’s outflow through the Niagara River are also forecasted to be above average in this month. In addition, Lake Ontario’s outflow through the St. Lawrence River is projected to be above average for this month.
High water levels and potentially record high water levels are expected to persist for at least the next six months, so flood prone areas are expected to remain vulnerable.
With regard to the forecast graph below, and the more recently updated first graph in this report, the USACE is predicting that the most likely outcome is that levels will exceed last year’s high by about 4 inches.
Please note that the purple and blue lines in the USACE forecast graph show what happened with water level changes from month to month in each of the years 2012-3 and 2017-18 – they do not represent actual water levels in those years.
Water levels continue to almost track last year’s rate of increase (see the first graph). It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue during the rest of June.