Low water on Lake Michigan (and the Leland River)

The photo above by John Levanen demonstrates just how low Lake Michigan is right now. An article in this morning’s TC Ticker begins:

As of December 18, Lake Michigan water levels virtually matched a record low set back in 1964.

Andy Knott, executive director of The Watershed Center in Greilickville, says the level was computed at 576.14 feet above sea level, just .02 higher than the 48-year-old mark, bringing with it all sorts of ecological and economic problems.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers measures Great Lakes water levels daily. Mackinaw City is the closest reporting station to Traverse City.

“The water level of Lake Superior is 1 inch lower than its level of one year ago, while Lake Michigan-Huron is 17 inches lower than its level from last year,” the Corps says in a December 14 report. “Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are 21, 24 and 14 inches, respectively, than their levels of a year ago.”

And the Corps says levels will fall over the next month in all Great Lakes.

Read on at the Ticker.