Lakes Huron and Michigan are reaching record low water levels, and businesses along the Third Coast are feeling the effects.
Yesterday, Russell Dzuba, the harbormaster in Leland, Michigan (think Michigan's pinkie right on Lake Michigan), spoke with NPR's Melissa Block about what he's seeing out his window.
The low water levels have revealed a sand bar inside the Leland Harbor.
"...that ordinarily is not a good thing in a harbor," said Dzuba.
From the interview:
"We had an incredibly warm season - warm winter season last year, and we lost a lot of water to evaporation, and that takes place during the whole winter, as well as the summer.... Traditionally, we don't freeze as we did in the old days. It used to freeze all the way across the channel, 11 miles out to North Manitou Island. That hasn't happened here in a number of years."
You can listen to the interview here:
Last month, I posted on the low lake levels. If they continue to drop, which is expected, the low lake level record from March 1964 will be beat.
