2020-Jun-22
June 21 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 are both up 2 inches, and Lakes St Clair, Erie & Ontario are down 1, 1 & 3 inches, respectively. Lakes Superior, Ontario, & Erie are down 6, 3 & 24 inches, respectively, and Lakes Michigan-Huron & St. Clair are 4 & 1 inches higher, respectively, than they were at this time last year. Lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron, St Clair, Erie & Ontario are 10, 35, 33, 29 & 9 inches, respectively, above their long term June average. Lakes Michigan-Huron and St Clair are 4 & 2 inches higher respectively than their previous record highs for June. All the other lakes are below their June record high.
In a month’s time, the level of Lake Superior is expected to rise by 1 inch, Lake Michigan–Huron is expected to be unchanged, and Lakes St Clair, Erie & Ontario are expected to be down 2, 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 United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is predicting that water levels will most likely not go up any further this year and remain much the same as they are now (4 inches higher than last year) through August, and then start to decline in September.
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.