Water levels on Lake Michigan have fallen 5” from April a year ago. Although seasonal warming cuts into evaporation from the lake and causes its water to expand, producing a temporary seasonal increase in lake levels, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers cautions mariners that lake levels are likely to wind up below last year’s during the upcoming boating season. Levels have fallen on the other Great Lakes as well, down 4 to 9” since last April. Waves of downpour-generating thunderstorms have largely bypassed the Great Lakes Basin from which precipitation drains into the Great Lakes.
Daytime 70s may dominate the rest of the week. Several computer model forecasts produce easterly winds off the lake Friday, a development which could impair warming if true. But, the forecast trend is indicated by only a handful of models at this time. It’s a period which will have to monitored.
-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
