Low Lake levels

[West Basin]

Yep. Like so many other things in Nature, the Great Lakes have a water level cycle.

Right now we are in a 6 year diminishing level period. Six years ago we were at a record high. Remember the streets in Port Clinton flooding, as well as parts of Route 2 between Camp Perry and the Davis Besse power plant? I remember the lower levels (actually right around the mean water level) that lasted for about 16-17 years from 1999 to about 2016. As I mentioned in another post, the upper Lakes watersheds have deep snow pack this year, so that should help some as we get to late spring / summer. It took the Lake about 6 years from 2015 to 2021 to rise to the record level. Since then it's been 6 years of decline. Hopefully this will be a short decline cycle, and the Lake level will start to increase, or at least not diminish any farther, this season. Yes, everyone needs to be prepared for lower levels at their slips and around the launch ramps and channels. Remember that some areas you went over last year where you only cleared the bottom by 6 inches or less (you may not have known) might be too shallow to cross this season. Be smart and talk with your marina before you launch your boat and get the latest information on their water levels and the access channels. Same if you trailer and launch - get the info on that launch ramp and access channels for it. And - remember floating trees and big branches from spring and summer river floods can get stuck on reefs and shoals and sand bars that are now shallow enough to snag them. Pay attention to wind direction and speed, as those two factors are much more critical now for navigation with the much lower water levels. A switch in direction and/or speed can make a place you got over in the morning on the way out impassable in the afternoon on the way in.

Here's a graph that shows the Great Lakes historical water levels.

https://water.usace.army.mil/office/...GLWL-Graph.pdf

[gb1234]

Nice lake level graph! Thanks.

[stampman]

They need to quit lowering the lake so much for winter pool.

[airshot]

They haven't lowered lake levels in years, the shipping my industry has made sure of that, and our natural levels have been to low to take it down any lower.