THUNDER BAY – Two years after one of the coldest winters on record, Lake Superior had one of its warmest summers ever.
The Wisconsin-based Great Lakes Science Center recorded an average temperature of 18 degrees Celsius on the Lake Superior’s surface this summer, a four-degree increase in the lake’s average temperature with the heat in some pockets rising as much as six degrees.
“We didn’t have much ice last winter so that starts the warming process that much sooner,” said U.S. Geological Survey Lake Superior field station supervisor Mark Vinson.
“The lake has that much more time to warm up so that’s what happened this year.”
Vinson added although his office has seen a warming trend in Lake Superior’s surface temperatures since 1998, they have begun to swing year-to-year.
Where 2012 was among the warmest years on record at 17 degrees, 2014 was among the coldest at just below 10 degrees.
He foresees the trend continuing with a bend toward warmer temperatures over the long term.
“Based on predictions we’ve seen globally, there may be less ice development in the winter. That’s going to be an issue for the great lakes as we move forward,” he said.
“There will be less ice, spring will come earlier, water temperatures will be warmer, fall will last a little bit longer because it will take longer for the lake to cool down and winter will be shorter.”
