Lake levels keep falling

The Port Huron Times-Herald summarizes the annual forecast for Lake Huron:

Standing at 577.3 feet above sea level, Lake Huron levels are about six inches lower than last year and are predicted to peak this summer just slightly higher. Lake St. Clair also is below its average at 573.6 feet above sea level. While Lake Huron still is a little more than a foot higher than the all-time record low of 576 feet set in 1964, the water's current depth and steady decline are factors that have some wondering if the lake's boom of the 1980s will ever return.

Various theories exist to explain the decline in water levels, but there's no consensus. Another study on the issue is scheduled to begin this summer.

According to projections made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Huron's water levels will reach 578.5 feet above sea level during the July-to-August time frame - lower than the average of about 579.4 feet.

A wet spring could have a large impact on the water's depth, said Scott Thieme, chief of the Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office in Detroit. Also, snow melt-off from Lake Superior is not complete, so more water could be flowing into the Great Lakes system.

Thieme said this year's lake activity likely will return water depths to marks set in 2004. "Between November 2004 and September 2005 (Lake Huron) probably only rose and fell within a four-inch range, which is kind of unusual," he said. "We've lost a little bit of that gain."