Water Level Updates

November 2021 Water Level Update

Lake Michigan water levels have continued their seasonal decline this fall, decreasing by about 3 inches from October to November. Though Lake Michigan is now about 25 inches below the highest monthly water level recorded for November in 1986, the Lake is still about 13 inches above the long-term average water level. Water levels are…
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September 2021 Water Level Update

Lake Michigan water levels have begun their seasonal decline this fall, decreasing by 2 inches this month. Water level fluctuations can be explained by the Net Basin Supply (NBS) and this past June was the first month this year where NBS was above average. Next month, Lake Michigan-Huron basins are expected to decrease 3 inches…
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August 2021 Water Level Update

Summer tends to be the season where lake levels increase, however, Lake Michigan water levels have stayed relatively steady since March, increasing by 1 inch this month. Water level fluctuations can be explained by the Net Basin Supply (NBS) and this past June was the first month this year where NBS was above average. Next…
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July 2021 Water Level Update

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have continued to be below their monthly record highs as of July 9, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 19 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in July previously set just last year in 2020. Water levels are trending downwards and this can be explained by the…
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June 2021 Water Level Update

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have continued to be below their monthly record highs as of June 7, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 14 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in June previously set just last year in 2020. Water levels are trending downwards and this can be explained by the…
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May 2021 Water Level Update

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have continued to be below their monthly record highs as of May 7, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 15 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in May previously set just last year in 2020. This is the fourth month in a row this year where NBS…
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April 2021 Water Level Update

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have continued to be below their monthly record highs as of April 9, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 14 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in April previously set just last year in 2020. This is the third month in a row this year where NBS…
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March 2021 Water Level Updates

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have continued to be below their monthly record highs as of March 5, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 9 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in March previously set just last year in 2020. This is the second month this year where NBS has been below…
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February 2021 Water Level Updates

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have continued to be below their monthly records as of February 15, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 10 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in February previously set just last year in 2020. This is the first time since August of 2019 that the Net Basin…
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January 2021 Water Level Update

The water levels on all the Great Lakes have finally dipped below their monthly records as of January 22, 2021. Lake Michigan is now 4 inches below the highest recorded monthly average in January previously set in 1987. Additionally, the basin is 8 inches below mean water levels from a year ago. From this point…
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