778.4 billion gallons of water added to Lake Michigan in last week

BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. -- With all of the rain and active weather we've seen of late, Lake Michigan has risen once again. In just the last week, the lake has seen its water level go up by two inches.

While that may not seem like a significant amount, it takes 778.4 billion gallons of water to get that increase of two inches! Now that is certainly a more eye-popping number.

Lake Michigan-Huron is starting well above its 2019 levels, which were also high. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District
That rise in water levels has placed Lake Michigan-Huron, which is treated as one body of water, well above where it started out in 2019. 

With 2019 seeing very high to record water levels all year long, it's fair to say that with this start we may see even worse conditions along Lake Michigan in 2020. 

Great Lakes water levels as of January 24th, 2020. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District
The current water level for Lake Michigan-Huron is 581.69 feet. That is 3 inches higher than one month ago, 20 inches higher than where it was just a year ago and 39 inches higher than where the lake typically is in January!

Put in simplest terms, Lake Michigan -- along with the other Great Lakes -- is running very high. 

Are we at record levels, though? If the month ended on the 24th, the answer would be a resounding yes.

The latest lake level is a whopping 5 inches above the record highest monthly average, which was observed back in 1987!

And with there being only six days left in the month, it's looking like a good bet that we break the all-time record for January water levels on Lake Michigan-Huron.

Looking ahead, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is projecting a decrease of one inch on Lake Michigan-Huron over the next month. That would keep the levels well above where they should be.

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