YWCA CAMP CAVELLLake Huron Water Levels Continue Low TrendOur Great Lakes were formed over 10,000 years ago and they have been fluctuating ever since!
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Current Lake Huron Levels |
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This year Lake Huron is only an inch higher... then it was last year at this time. Although the northern region of the Great Lakes Basin saw heavier snow fall, most of the snow that would melt into Lake Huron evaporated before it ever reached the lake! Lake Superior is almost 10 inches higher then it was at this time last year and some of that will flow down into Lake Huron, but overall they only expect Lake Huron to rise by a few inches into the fall. The low lake levels
cause lots of trouble... to the shipping industry and the marinas who
are all having trouble getting watercraft through the lakes and into the
harbors without dragging bottom. The winds were coming from the Northeast and the waves had the entire length of the lake to build. The staff and volunteers watched as a blizzard hit camp and huge waves rolled into shore and ate away at the bottom of the cliff and rolled right into the boat shed! They watched as a beautiful old cedar tree that the camp gathered under down at the beach was torn away and taken out into the lake. Over 20 feet of property
disappeared in one day in 1986...
In 1997 the lakes rose again... and this time we thought we would lose grace cottage and the dining room porch, but luckily there was a drought the next winter and the lakes dropped over 2 feet in the year and have been down ever since! Many people wonder if
tides... make the level of the lakes rise or fall. Tides created by
the moons pull are too small to be noticed. What you do see is the effect
of the wind or storms changing the lake levels. Strong winds can pile water
up at the far shore of the lake making the levels rise and fall in different
parts of the lake. Although the lake levels look low to us... they are not even down to the long term average. They have been high for 60 years now so it just looks normal to us! The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has water level records for the period from 1918 to 1999, during which there were several periods of extremely high and extremely low water levels and flows. Exceptionally low levels were experienced in the mid-1920s, mid-1930s, and early 1960s. High levels occurred in 192930, 1952, 197374, 198586, and 199798. _________________________________________ LINKS AND RESOURCES USED IN THIS ARTICLE Great Lakes Beach Facts Great Lakes Storms Photo Gallery Lake Huron Storm
Surge - July 13, 1995 Historical Water Levels on the Great Lakes http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/envt/levels/lev_3.html Great Lakes Storm of 1913 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Storm_of_1913 Rain and snow spell relief for Great Lakes - Fri May 2,
2008 1:26pm ED Great Lakes Commission Living with the Lakes -
Understanding and Adapting to Great Lakes Water Level Changes - Free
downloadable booklet Water Level Records for the period from 1918 to 1999 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers DEQ - Background Information on Lake Levels in the
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the top of the cliff behind both the dining hall and grace cottage. The
waves also knocked over both pump houses that used to pump camp drinking
water from beach wells up into camp. One pump house was saved and is now
the paint shed. The waves also uncovered a large area of the shipwreck of
the