N. Wisconsin Lakes Lowest In 70 Years - Research Finds Long-Term Drying Trend From 1950s On - MJS

[hatrack]

Scientists and property owners say they are worried about the long-term effects of a prolonged drought on fishing and water quality in northern Wisconsin as they've watched some lakes drop to their lowest point in 70 years.

As people flock to the north this weekend, drought conditions also are evident in tinder-dry forests that experienced a surge in fires last week. Many lakefront property owners are being forced to push out docks and motor around new shallows as water levels have dropped, in some cases, as much as 8 feet from their highs. Levels are likely to drop even more in some reservoirs controlled by dams, and utilities say that they're generating less hydropower than in the past.

The main culprit: less rainfall over the last four years. But a University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist says the problem goes back much further than the last couple of years.

Using statistical modeling, Chris Kucharik found that the northern quarter of the state has received 15% to 20% less rain from the decade of the 1950s to the decade ending in 2006. "This doesn't even include the drought years after 2006," said Kucharik, an assistant professor of agronomy and environmental sciences.

EDIT

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/45924602.html

[NOW tense]

1. Does Nestle bottle water nearby? n/t

[konnichi wa]

2. I'd love to donate some from our flooded lakes around here to them

last 5 years they have had to let the lakes fill up to the maximum to curb flooding downstream. The fishing and concession has gone to shit because of too much rain/water.

[madrchsod]

3. here`s another problem

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/Soilmst_Monitoring/US/Soilmst/Soilmst.shtml

wet fields and more rain on the way

precipitation map of midwest