Is Lake Erie As Low As Lake Ontario?

[Todd in NY]

I launched on eastern Lake O this past Saturday and I can't believe how low the water is. Is Lake Erie As Low as Lake O, or worse?

Edited August 29, 2022 by Todd in NY

[sherman brown]

was the wind blowing hard out of the east? this can cause a lake to drop if it blows for a while.

 

i was up on Erie the last part of July and the lake was just fine.

[Todd in NY]

There was a light north wind. Nothing that would make the water levels drop more than 2 feet between mid July and now. I know a lot of people with slips at several marinas on Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River, as well as a bunch of people who use many of our local boat launches, and everyone is asking the same thing... Where's all the water?

[AnglingAddict]

It's dropping and has dropped over the summer months.  It usually does  but this year seems more drastic than the past few years due to limited rainfall.  I've lost almost 2 feet at my slip since early June.

[Decoy Hound]

Really low in Wilson too.

[GAMBLER]

Todd,

 

The answer is No.  Lake Erie is not controlled by man (a dam).  Lake Erie still sits above the historical average.  Lake O is below the historical average.  

[Todd in NY]

2 minutes ago, GAMBLER said:

Todd,

 

The answer is No.  Lake Erie is not controlled by man (a dam).  Lake Erie still sits above the historical average.  Lake O is below the historical average.  

 

Thanks for the info on Lake Erie. I heard a rumor that Lake Erie was currently experiencing lower than normal water levels, and people were using that as an excuse for why Lake O was lower than normal. It's been a hot dry summer around the Watertown area, yards are brown instead of green.

[GAMBLER]

The upper Great Lakes have been running high for years.  They are slowly

coming back down closer to normal

levels.  
 

https://lre-wm.usace.army.mil/ForecastData/GLBasinConditions/daily-GLWL-Graph.pdf

Edited August 29, 2022 by GAMBLER

[lrg355]

As lake Erie is controlled by.nature it is normal.  Ontario level is controlled by the IJC (international Joint Commision) with the dam on the St Lawrence.  Commercial interests, POLITICS and other things get involved. Strange how all other Great Lakes are normal but Ontario is extremely low.  Strange how Ontario is either flooding severely or very low every year since the IJC took over about 7 years ago. Hmmm???

 

[Todd in NY]

We are all well aware how the IJC can't do anything right with our water levels, and that Lake Erie has no man made controls like the Moses Saunders dam.

 

Our inland ponds and wetlands are drying up due to high temps and lack of rain. I'm talking about ponds and wetlands that are not connected to Lake O/SLR in any way. Our rivers that feed into Lake O are below normal water levels as well. I hope it doesn't have a negative impact on the spawn this fall.

[ifishy]

Erie is above average which means above average flows into ontario all fall and winter with all the ****ing every one does about high water they have to try and Fer ahead of it also the amount it can actually be controlled is way less than than they are blamed for it takes weeks to get the levels to change a few Inches differently than it would naturally so to controll it to the level your expecting would take perfect forecasts months In advance the most accurate weather models in existence only go out 10 days and I defy you to find one that's perfect that far out

[Gator]

If only we had as much inflow as that sentence has run-on...

 

Just busting lol. I feel you.

 

But the IJC could do a better job. You can't control the weather, but simple chance dictates that they should get it right once in a while. And even I, blind squirrel nut finder that I am, could see we were going to have issues this summer when they started dropping the lake in April, almost two months before they normally would. Because summer is hot, you know? And water evaporates lol.

[C hammond]

They are still draining water over the spillway in massena. Which makes no sense with how low the water is.

[ifishy]

Gator that’s funny spell check and grammar check has done more for my career than I care to imagine. Ijc can only do so much there limits imposed and lower lows are part of the plan it will require some marinas to invest in better docking but if I’m honest there are some around the lake that have gotten away with being overly cheap for a lot of years. Record levels high or low should still be rare and let’s face it all of the Great Lakes hit record highs in the same couple years under those conditions it is unreasonable to think the lowest in the system wouldn’t also flood

[GAMBLER]

7 hours ago, ifishy said:

Gator that’s funny spell check and grammar check has done more for my career than I care to imagine. Ijc can only do so much there limits imposed and lower lows are part of the plan it will require some marinas to invest in better docking but if I’m honest there are some around the lake that have gotten away with being overly cheap for a lot of years. Record levels high or low should still be rare and let’s face it all of the Great Lakes hit record highs in the same couple years under those conditions it is unreasonable to think the lowest in the system wouldn’t also flood

Outflows this summer were lower all summer than last year.  They held the level pretty steady until Labor Day.  It is doable.