Nov
28
Will Climate Change Drain Lake Michigan?
Filed Under Lake Michigan, environment, global climate change, global warming
Scientists predict bad things for Lake Michigan if temperatures in Chicago and Northwest Indiana continue to rise.
A report predicts in 2050 that rising temperatures could cause Lake Michigan’s water levels to plummet because of evaporation and diversion.
That concerns scientists behind a new report: “Climate Change and Great Lakes Water Resources.” The report predicts lake levels may drop by as much as 4.5 feet by 2050 as a result of less precipitation and more evaporation.
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4 Responses to “Will Climate Change Drain Lake Michigan?”
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Screw Lake Michigan. I’ll sacrifice it for a winter that is 8 degrees warmer!
I’m skeptical of parts of the global warming thesis, but it is undeniable that our winters are already a lot warmer than they used to be. Tom Skilling had a graph last week showing that November and December temps in Chicago are like 4 degrees warmer than in the recent past. You can’t argue with data like that.
Warmer is better, as far as I’m concerned. It means less heating of our houses, better gas mileage for our cars, no need for snowblowers, etc. If I can avoid those insane gas bills in January and February, my bottom line is going to be a lot healthier.
I’m inclined to think that Lake Michigan is more threatened by diversion of water away from the lake to other places that don’t put the water back into the lake, than by the threat of global warming.
Global warming seems to be a tool designed to motivate people to perform actions that make money for other people. (Shifting manufacturing from the first world to the third world is one example of “solving” the global warming problem. Or, creating new carbon credit exchanges.)
Chris, while diversion is an issue, it pales in comparison to evaporation.
The report in question is correct in linking warmer winters to less lake ice to more evaporation to lower lake levels. All else being equal, of course (which is quite an assumption, and perhaps not a good one)
My point is that to get ice on Lake Michigan, you need brutally cold weather. If global warming reduces cold weather, I’m all for it, no matter what it does to the lake!
Hi Buzz,
I’m in favor of milder weather also.
Things will all balance out in the end and we’ll adapt and adjust. If people can live in deserts all over the world, we’ll figure out ways of adapting to warmer (and cooler) periods in our history.