LAKE SUPERIOR WATER LEVEL HIGHEST IN 17 YEARS

 

BOATS ARE RIDING HIGH AT CITY DOCK

SAND PIPER ALL DRESSED UP TO GO COURTIN'

Thursday, 8:15 AM.  38 degrees F at the ferry dock, 40 on the back porch.  Wind variable and calm at present.  The sky is clear, the humidity 89%.  The barometer is fallng slightly, currently at 30.4".  The  high will be around sixty today and tomorrow, then cooling some with a chance of rain on Saturday and again the middle of next week.  It is a gorgeous early spring day.
   Yesterday we saw this  sand piper all dressed up to go courtin'.  Now that's a handsome dude!  Also saw two tundra swans flying about treetop high over Hwy 13; they are awesome when in flight.
   I ran into the City Marina superintendent at the post office yesterday, who noted that Lake Superior was at  very high levels, even though there was little ice the last two winters to reduce evaporation. 
   In fact, the lake is at its highest level in 17 years, and up 30" since March of 2013.  It was only a few years ago that environmentalists were predicting that The Great Lakes would be shrunken to mere puddles by mid-century, due to global warming.
    Seems they got that prediction a bit wrong, unless it can be proven that melting polar ice is causing the rise.  If the level suddenly drops it will probably be because the Army Corps of Engineers pulled the plug at the east end of the lake.