Scientists predict warmer, drier winter and generally lower water levels in Great Lakes
http://www.voicenews.com/articles/2015/12/12//news/doc566b27395a722051225350.txt?viewmode=fullstory
The coming winter should see less snow and cold than the past two winters, which will likely mean slightly lower water levels in the Great Lakes as compared to a year ago...That's the word from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who met with reporters in a conference call on Nov. 19.
"The official NOAA climate prediction outlook for winter in the Great Lakes is calling for above normal temperatures ... and for a tendency for slightly below normal precipitation across the Great Lakes basin," said Jim Noel, a hydrologist with NOAA's National Weather Service, the Ohio River Forecast Center.
Following a record rise of more than 3 feet on Lake Superior and Lake Michigan-Huron from January 2013 to December 2014, the water levels are expected to fall back slightly.
"The forecast for the water level of Lake Michigan-Huron is to remain above average for the next six months," said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of the Watershed Hydrology Branch, USACE, Detroit District. "In the next couple of months, it will fall below where it was a year ago by just a couple of inches."
Much of the winter's relative mildness will be triggered by El Nino...