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Super-snowy winter will boost Great Lakes water levels

Keith Matheny
Detroit Free Press
Ice covers the shoreline of Lake Michigan on in Chicago. This winter will boost the water levels for the Great Lakes, due to evaporation of the high ice-cover levels.

The Great Lakes are making a comeback.

Record-breaking snow, ice cover and cold temperatures this winter will mean rising Great Lakes water levels over the next six months — but don't expect too dramatic a recovery.

The unusually deep, unusually water-heavy snowpack that's melting and feeding the lakes is expected to help them continue to rebound from years of record-low water, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' six-month forecast reports.

If accurate, the forecast would mark a second year of improving lake levels and a comeback from the record lows recorded on Lakes Michigan and Huron early last year.

That means much-needed good news for marinas, beach-goers and the shipping industry in Michigan -- but it won't be a huge improvement for boaters who've endured recent years of unusable docks and closed marina slips.

A boat breaks through ice on Lake Michigan .

Among the findings:

- Through spring and summer, connected lakes Michigan and Huron are expected to have water levels up 9 to 14 inches from a year ago, but will still be 9 to 12 inches below the lakes' long-term average.

Boat docks are encased in ice along the shore of Lake Michigan.

- Lake Superior is forecast for levels 13 inches above a year ago, and could rise to 1 inch above its long-term average for March — the first time the lake could exceed its monthly average since 1998.

- Lake Erie is forecast to rise 2 to 6 inches above its levels of a year ago, but remain about 2 inches below its long-term average.

- Lake Ontario is expected to rise 2 inches above where it was in early spring last year, but to fall 5 to 7 inches below its levels of a year ago by the end of summer.

- Lake St. Clair is expected to rise 3 inches above its levels of last year, but will remain about 7 inches below its long-term average.

But the improvements don't eliminate Michigan's worries about low-water levels that have persisted since the late 1990s. Likes Michigan and Huron reached their lowest levels in January 2013.

The Great Lakes cover 94,000 square miles and contain 6 quadrillion gallons of water — that's 6,000 trillion gallons. And as of this week, they are under 91% ice-cover.

Ice cover on the Great Lakes is 91% right now. The Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday, March 5 that the heavy ice cover and snowfall across the Great Lakes basin should help water levels move closer to normal over the next six months.
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