Lake Superior’s May water level rose one inch from April to 602.49 feet. This was 11 inches higher than its average and only 5 inches below its May 2019 record.
As of June 26, the Army Corps of Engineers recorded 602.82 feet in Lake Superior.
Another Great Lake, Ontario, was 13 inches below its May 2019 record level at 247.24 feet, but still 13 inches above its longterm average.
Meanwhile the Army Corps reported that the connected Great Lakes of Michigan, Huron, Lake Erie and the non- Great Lake St. Clair were setting all-time high May water level records.
John Allis, chief of the Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office at the US Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, said lake levels in Michigan and Huron were above peak levels last year when there was flooding and shoreline erosion. He cited little seasonal decline in the water levels over the winter and days of torrential rain in May that caused dam failures and catastrophic flooding in Midland County. These factors all added to the rise of water of the lower Great Lakes.
The Army Corps summer forecast for lakes Michigan and Huron, which are linked, predict those Great Lakes would continue to rise and set new records. If there is enough precipitation, the lake levels could exceed the high-water mark, a record set in 1986.
Lake Superior trivia
Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world by surface area and the third largest freshwater lake by volume.
At its maximum width Lake Superior is 160 miles wide and 350 miles long with an average depth of 483 feet. It borders three states: Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and creates an international border with Canada.
There have been about 350-recorded shipwrecks in Lake Superior that claimed more than 10,000 lives.
Lake Superior contains ten percent of the world’s freshwater, only Lake Baikal in Siberia and Lake Tanganyika in East Africa contain more fresh water. If Lake Superior was tipped over like a cup of coffee it would cover North and South America to a depth of 12 inches, which would take a lot of paper towels to clean up.
At its deepest, Lake Superior is 1,333 feet deep. Its average underwater visibility is 27 feet, which makes it the clearest and cleanest of all of the Great Lakes.
More than 200 rivers feed into Lake Superior and the lake has a shoreline that stretches 2,726 miles, which includes its 400 islands.
At 536 square miles, Isle Royale is the largest island in Lake Superior.
Lake Baikal, located in Siberia, Russia, is the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume and the world’s deepest lake. Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world’s freshwater and is estimated to be 25 millions years old, making it the oldest freshwater lake.
As for Lake Superior, it’s a mere baby, a piddling 10,000 years old. Just imagine how big Lake Superior will be when it grows up!
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