The coldest of the Great Lakes may be headed toward record warmth.
Lake Superior is already the warmest it’s been at this time of year in at least a century, according to Climate Central,a group that researches and reports on climate.
The group recently reported that Lake Superior began warming earlier than normal because of scant lake ice cover and an unusual March heat wave. Warm temperatures since have kept the heat on.
The analysis is based on data from researchers at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
The …

The Washington Post reports that Michigan Congressman Dan Benishek, R-Crystal Falls, is one of the League of Conservation Voters’ “Flat Earth Five.”

A dugout canoe isn’t a normal method of travel on the Great Lakes. But that hasn’t stopped Mary Catterlin, 23, and Amy Lukas, 23, from paddling one around the perimeter of Lake Michigan this summer.

The two left Indiana July 1, heading northwest in Mekeba, an 11-foot dugout canoe that Catterlin built in her parent’s backyard.

Move over crabbers, Great Lakes tugboat captains have taken over primetime in Great Lake Warriors, a new series on the History Channel.
For those of us who know the Great Lakes as a place for sun, sand and beach, Great Lakes Warriors shows us the lakes once summer’s over.  It’s a whole different world out there.
The show follows five captains braving winter storms on the Great Lakes to break up ice and tow barges into port.  Their tugs battle wind gusts, choppy waters and weather that can change in an instant.
The …

Thanks to a trail camera photograph the Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed for the first time the presence of a cougar in Marquette County.
It’s the 16th confirmation by the DNR of cougars in Michigan’s Upper Pennisula since 2008.  At least two have been confirmed this year. Last year one cougar was spotted three different times in two different counties.
The photo was released by the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, a citizen group that restores Michigan wildlife habitats. It’s collected reports on cougar sightings since 1998.
“This is no doubt one of …

NASA’s Earth Observatory has a remarkable view of the impact of the summer drought. Parts of the Great Lakes region are among those hardest hit.
The image depicts plant health in the central U.S. with data collected by the space agency’s Terra satellite. Brown areas show where plants have taken a hit, cream indicates normal growth  and green indicates lush vegetation.  Gray indicates where data could not be collected because of snow or cloud cover.
Things look particularly bad in southern Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.
Read more here about how the image was …

You may know about the Asian carp, but would you know one if you saw one?

This video distinguishes bighead, silver and grass carp (aka Asian carp) from their not-so-notorious brethren, common carp.

 
Longtime environment writer Jeff Alexander just launched a nifty feature to track the Asian carp crisis.
It’s modeled after the Doomsday Clock that scientists created in the 1940s to track how the world inched toward nuclear holocaust.
The Asian Carp Doomsday Clock features hands made of images of bighead and silver carp – two of the species biologists and others fear could devastate the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Jeff does a nice round up of a week’s worth of bad news along the carp Maginot Line to justify setting the hands at a mere …

An animated map of Great Lakes currents can help lake-goers interpret the speed and direction of currents in any location.
“We are trying to provide information so people can learn about circulation in the lakes and get a sense for how frequently it changes,” said David Schwab, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The administration recently released the map to provide information that is a little less technical, Schwab said.
Users can either view the surface current map or the depth-averaged current map.
Surface currents change frequently due to wind conditions, …

 
The federal government’s carp czar is holding a public meeting in Chicago today to discuss efforts to prevent Asian carp from establishing in the Great Lakes.
Here’s what Great Lakes Echo’s Gary Wilson had to say about the issue on WMUK in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality Asian Carp Director John Goss is leading the meeting of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.  Information at the bottom of this post explains how to participate at 2 p.m. Central time (3 p.m. Eastern) via webcast.