NOAA Releases Quarterly Climate Change Report for the Great Lakes

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last week released their Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook brief for the Great Lakes Region. The brief gives a climate overview from March to May of this year.

According to the report, temperatures across the basin were higher than average this spring, up 4°C (7°F) in March and 3°C (5°F) in April and May. Syracuse and Buffalo, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania,  had their second-warmest springs on record, and most cities around and east of Lake Michigan had a top-five warmest spring on record. Ice season ended very early on April 20^th, and the 2023-24 average ice cover was just 4.3%, a record low.

The EPA’s Great Lakes Climate Indicators show that the surface temperatures of all five lakes are warming (though only Superior shows a statistically significant change). Experts are not sure whether climate change will increase or decrease water levels in the long run, but they agree that more variability is to be expected as both drought and heavy rainfall events become more common. Long-term ice cover trends are also concerning, as the lakes are now frozen for 8-46 fewer days per year than in the 1970s.

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