Latest Great Lakes Stories
Lake Michigan's food chain is under threat from an invasive fish and biologists are working on ways to keep it out of the lake, university scientists say. A $9 million electric fish barrier keeps Asian carp from migrating between the Mississippi River and the lake and the Army Corps of Engineers just boosted the power, the Milwaukee Journal Gazette reported Wednesday. However, the giant fish are also in the Des Plaines River, which has a history of breaching its banks and flooding into the...
Predicting harmful algal blooms, or HABs, in the Great Lakes is now a reality as NOAA announces an experimental HAB forecast system in Lake Erie. HABs produce toxins that may pose a significant risk to human and animal health through water recreation and may form scum that are unsightly and odorous to beach visitors, impacting the coastal economy. Forecasts depicting current and future locations of blooms, as well as intensity, will alert scientists and managers to possible threats to the...
A Great Lakes official says invasive Asian carp have made it miles beyond a Chicago barrier intended to keep the species out of Lake Michigan. Great Lakes Fishery Commission spokesman Marc Gaden said after genetic testing showed evidence of flying Asian carp five miles beyond the electric barrier of a Chicago canal, the power on the barrier was increased to prevent further incursions, The Detroit Free Press said Monday. These carp are clawing at the door now, Gaden said. The silver carp...
Canadian scientists uncover alarming invasion of round goby into Great Lakes tributaries: impact on endangered fishes likely to be seriousA team of scientists from the University of Toronto, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the University of Guelph has identified a drastic invasion of round goby into many Great Lakes tributaries, including several areas of the Thames, Sydenham, Ausable and Grand Rivers. A number of the affected areas are known as "species-at-risk" hot...
A U.S. and Canadian study says the low water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron during nearly all of the last decade were only natural. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Thursday the study into whether erosion in the St. Clair River is to blame for the reduced Lakes Michigan and Huron water levels found that nothing likely needs to be done to improve the natural situation. The St. Clair serves as the main outflow for the two lakes, part of the Midwest's Great Lakes system. The river's...
A 10 percent decline in U.S. beach closing or advisory days was due to dry conditions, not ecological improvement, an environmental watchdog said Wednesday. The 2008 decrease was also a result of reduced funding for water monitoring in some states, the National Resources Defense Council said. The decline follows two years of record-high closing and advisory days and the primary pollution source, storm water runoff after heavy rains, continues to be a serious problem that has not been...
A 10 percent decline in U.S. beach closing or advisory days was due to dry conditions, not ecological improvement, an environmental watchdog said Wednesday. The 2008 decrease was also a result of reduced funding for water monitoring in some states, the National Resources Defense Council said. The decline follows two years of record-high closing and advisory days and the primary pollution source, storm water runoff after heavy rains, continues to be a serious problem that has not been...
LIVONIA, Mich., July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michigan Boating Industries Association (MBIA), a state-wide marine trade association and the producer of the annual Detroit Boat Show, announces the launch of a new consumer event called the Great Lakes Outdoor Recreation Expo (GLORE) to be held February 18 - 21, 2010 at Cobo Exhibition and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan. It will be held during the last four days of the upcoming 52nd annual Detroit Boat Show running from...
U.S. senators from Michigan and other states are urging the Senate to consider tougher federal regulations on invasive species such as the zebra mussel. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told a hearing of two subcommittees of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that legislation is required to keep zebra mussels and other invasive species out of the Great Lakes, the Detroit News reported Wednesday. Levin said the mollusks are believed to have entered the Great Lakes through ship ballast...
The River Raisin in southeastern Michigan is set to undergo a multimillion-dollar clean-up to remove polychlorinated biphenyls from its waters, experts say. Alie Muneer, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency project manager, said the PCB contamination of the River Raisin makes the body of water an ideal candidate for Great Lakes Legacy Act funds, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday. We're trying to get this done as quickly as we can, Muneer said. The Great Lakes Legacy program received...
Latest Great Lakes Reference Libraries
The Great lakes have a huge impact in the weather for the cities that are near the lakes. In the fall and early winter months the lakes can create intense snowfall events known as “Lake Effect Snow”. The reason that this occurs has to do with the water temps of the lakes and also the temps of the air that is moving across them. When an Alberta Clipper system forms in Canada and moves Southeastward towards the US, it brings that cold air and strong Northwest winds over the warmer waters....
If you look at our weather map above you see a warm front extending from Iowa into the Great Lakes region. What a warm front does is separate warm air from cool air. On the north side of the front the temps will be about 15-20 degrees cooler than on the south side of the front. The warm front is depicted on a weather map as having red half circles. The reason for using half circles it to show that advancing of the warm air from the south. Winds ahead of the warm front are from the...
Symbol: PRPUP Group: Dicot Family: Rosaceae Duration: Perennial Growth Habit: Shrub Native Status: L48 N CAN N Synonyms: CEPU8 Cerasus pumila (L.) Michx. Distribution: County distributions for the following U.S. states are available at PLANTS:NY, OH, PA Classification: Kingdom Plantae – Plants Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants...
The snowbelt is a North American region that lies downwind of the Great lakes, where heavy snowfall is common on mostly the eastern and southern shores of the Great Lakes. Lake-effect snow is caused by cold air picking up moisture while crossing the lake and then releasing it as snow when the air cools over land. Throughout much of the winter, lakes produce lake-effect snow and continuously cloudy skies. This phenomenon continues as long as the air temperature is colder than the water...
The Yellow Bullhead (Ameiurus natalis) is a species of bullhead catfish. Their range extends throughout the central and eastern US from central Texas north into North Dakota and east through the Great Lakes region to the coast. Its habitat includes pools, backwaters, and sluggish current over soft or mildly rocky substrate in creeks, small to larger rivers, and shallow portions of lakes and ponds. Yellow Bullheads are typically yellow-olive to slate-black on the back and sometimes mottled...
