The media gives us a lot of coverage of climate impacts in the American Southwest, or more exotic locales around the planet, than we generally get of the upper midwest.
That’s too bad, because something like 20 percent of the world’s fresh water is concentrated here. I can imagine a number of scenarios where that fact becomes a lot more urgent in coming decades. The health of the entire Great Lakes system is determined by the health of the greatest lake, Superior. As the video points out, the Lake is warming at a rate much faster than would have been predicted. The map below shows that, in fact, the upper Great Lakes area as a whole has been warming faster than the surroundings over the last 40 years.
You may have seen the ocean. You have have driven by Lake Ontario or Erie. You might have glimpsed Lake Michigan from the loop in Chicago. But if you haven’t spent time on Lake Superior, there’s something there that I will never be able to describe to you.
have have?
The increased emphasis is good, but still lacks the necessary intensity as indicated by the lack of even basic measurements during the cold season, which is extensive.