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Good News for Great Lakes Sailors

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/07/2003 : 19:45:57

Here is an article that appeared in today's Detroit News and, for us Great Lakes sailors, it is indeed good news!

Water levels rise on lakes

Huron, Michigan are up 4 inches from Nov.rainfall; St. Clair has been holding its own

By Gene Schabath / The Detroit News

HARRISON TOWNSHIP -- There are few boaters on the Great Lakes this time of year, but there is good news for area sailors from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

After six years of propeller-bending low water levels in the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair, boaters may finally have smoother sailing next spring and summer.

Water levels in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan rose during November, while Lakes St. Clair and Erie held their own, and that could translate into an increase in water depths next year for frustrated boaters, said Marie Strum, chief of the watershed hydrology branch of the Army Corps.

Water levels historically drop during the fall, but unusually high amounts of rainfall in November reversed that trend and sent water levels up 4 inches in lakes Huron and Michigan from October's readings. Some 4.54 inches of rain doused the region. A normal rainfall in November in the Lake Huron-Michigan watershed is 2.78 inches.

Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are regarded as one lake by the Army Corps because they are joined by the Straits of Mackinac.

Levels in Lake St. Clair were up 2 1/2 inches at one point during the month because of the 4.06 inches of rain that pelted the area during November -- 1.15 inches above normal precipitation for the month.

Lake St. Clair's level ended up Nov. 30 where it started Nov. 1, but that's still good news, Strum said.

"This is helpful in terms of water levels on Lake St. Clair because they didn't have a decline," Strum said. Lake St. Clair is the state's most heavily used waterway.

This could be the start of a long-term rise in water levels after the six-year decline that left boaters high and dry and scraping the bottom.

Richard Rittenhause, a Lake St. Clair boater, hopes the low water cycle is over.

Rittenhause, who used to dredge canals and do other nautical jobs for a living, had a difficult time moving his 26-foot-long Trophy cruiser last month from his home in Harrison Township to its winter berth in St. Clair Shores because of low water.

"There's a bay behind my house, and I had to literally push the boat" to get it out into deeper water, Rittenhause said. And once out in the lake, the water was so shallow at Metropolitan Beach he had to sail out more than a mile and a half to reach safe, navigable water.

"I hit bottom a mile and a half out," Rittenhause said. "I was shocked."

Strum said whether the low water marks are a thing of the past depends on two things this winter: heavy snows in the Lake Superior and Lake Huron-Michigan watersheds and a good covering of ice on the Great Lakes to prevent evaporation.

"A month like this helps, but we need a number of sustained months like this" to start on a high water cycle, Strum said.

"It has taken a number of years to get this low water period, and it will likely take a number of years to climb out," she said. "This is a good start."

Great Lakes levels

Here are November water levels for Michigan Lakes:

* Lake Huron-Michigan: Increased 4 inches.

* Lake St. Clair: Unchanged.

* Lake Erie: Unchanged.

* Lake Ontario: Increased 2.4 inches.

* Lake Superior: Deceased 1 inch.

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Don Lucier

North Star SR/FK

Edited by - on

osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 12/07/2003 : 19:58:49

Don,

That is great news to hear, and is certainly one good thing to come out our wet fall. The GReat Sacandaga Lake was at 769 feet above sea level on Monday - considered full 768 and overflows the dam at 771. One of the bad things of the wet fall is getting the lake down so that the winter thaw has a place to go

But I'm glad to hear the Great Lakes are rising, and hope that continues for you lake sailers.

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Jeff_Clarke_bankone.com
Deckhand

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17 Posts

Response Posted - 12/08/2003 : 14:00:04

Even though it’s the very beginning of the winter season this article was very positive

Edited by - Jeff_Clarke_bankone.com on 12/08/2003 22:18:37

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 12/08/2003 : 14:53:03

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jeff_Clarke_bankone.com
 Even though it’s the very beginning of the winter season this article was very positive

. We are praying for lots of snow in the upper regions surrounding Lake Superior and points beyond. I sail on Lake St.Clair, which is a very shallow lake - averaging around 12 feet. Four years ago every Marina, Yacht Club and Harbor had to be dredged costing big dollars $$. If that recent Northeaster snow blast would be been a few hundred miles north, it would have been a good start.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

People think I'm nuts when I tell them that I pray for lots of rain and snow from the time I pull my boat til the day I splash in May. When it's raining cats and dogs, I turn to my family and say, "Isn't it a most lovely day!"

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osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 12/09/2003 : 06:12:57

But rain and snow in Schenectady doesn't do anything for the Great Sacandaga, but in the Adirondaks, that a good place for it to happen!

Edited by - on

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