Climate

Perfect conditions produce “snow rollers” in Ohio, New York

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By Evan KreagerGreat Lakes Echo Everyone has seen images of tumbleweed blowing in the wind. This image shows what it looks like when the wind rolls its own snowballs. These snowballs were created by the wind in a field in Ohio, according to Earth Science Picture of the Day, a service provided by NASA’s Earth Science Division that documents naturally occurring phenomenon that highlight the different processes of the world. If the wind blows strong enough, and snow has just the right packing consistency, then the wind can blow snowballs like these ones, known as “snow rollers.” If the wind changes path, so can the snowballs, leaving tracks in the snow behind. This phenomenon is not unique to Newcomerstown, Ohio, where this photo was taken in late January by Bill Schultz.

Nearshore

Beach funding dwindles

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Michigan received $152,000 in federal grants in 2014 to monitor the cleanliness of its lakes and beaches.

That’s more than $200,000 less than the state was allotted in 2013.

Energy

Smart meters are easier to read but spark privacy concerns

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Smart meters are easy to read and an accurate way of measuring how much electricity is used by utility customers.

The Michigan Public Service Commission recently approved rules to control how data collected by the meters is used.

But some customers worry that the meters are a technological invasion of privacy.

Echo

Mr. Great Lakes: A new urban nature preserve and the Thumb Loop

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Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM. Nov. 22, 2013 – The Environment Report, with Jeff Kart, Mr. Great Lakes by jeffkart

This week, Kart discusses the first urban nature preserve in Bay City and the beginnings of a 140-mile Thumb Loop high-voltage transmission line. Text at Mr. Great Lakes

Echo

Favorite Echo headlines of 2012

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Here at Echo we often write headlines designed for Search Engine Optimization.

But that’s a bit tedious. And the writers in us can’t resist the occasional word play.

Here are 2012 favorites organized in completely arbitrary categories.

Echo

Plan to pump more oil across Straits of Mackinac prompts concern

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A National Wildlife Federation study due out this week raises concerns over a proposal to pump more oil through a pipeline that crosses Great Lakes water near Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge.

The pipeline is owned by the same company that operates the pipeline that ruptured two years ago, polluting Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.

Echo

Great Lakes Echo launches redesign

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Help Echo turn the Great Lakes basin on its ear and shake up journalism.

Perhaps the greatest change you’ll notice in this Echo redesign is that reporters will ask for your help, tell you about reporting challenges and empty their notebooks of those odds and ends that otherwise never quite become stories.

But expect us to stick with the Echo core concept: We’re a news community that transcends political borders and is defined by a global resource. Check out how we intend to do an even better job of that.