Raincharm’s Weblog

We are snug as a bug in a rug in our room as the storm rages outside. Unfortunately we are very close to the venue for the Copa America game between Chile and Columbia. It is halftime and they have delayed the second half while the lightning passes. And now we have no tv signal. I wish I could capture our visuals. Lightning, rain, blowing sheets of water. And we are fully sated after eating as much Chicago deep dish pizza as we could manage.

Carl went to the Cubs day game today. Thankfully it did not rain. But the Cubs lost, again. Lucky us get the Cardinals when we return to Seattle.

I spent my final day at the conference. In sessions till the bitter end.
There was some fun around lunch time during hydrant hysteria. I did take a video of the 1 minute 18.51 second rebuild of the hydrant, but I don’t have my computer and passwords necessary to post that successfully.

And I sort of played hookey for part of the morning when I went to sessions on the Great Lakes.
The first was about microplastics. Bits less than 5 mm. There is a group that uses citizen scientists to help collect samples. Anyone interested?

Next up was a bit about the lack of separation between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi basin.
And the Great Lakes Compact.

And finally, Rapid Water Level Changes. The record low levels in Superior were in the 60s. Highs in the 80s.
In the late 90s El Nino led to persistent low levels (big beaches). Overlake evaporation was the mechanism for water to leave the lake.

In 2012 Superior was at it’s lowest, but the next two years had the biggest surge (delta change), almost 3 feet. This was the cause of our scoured banks and the highly visible Amethyst rock.

And did you know that the peak month for overlake evaporation is December?

This entry was posted on June 22, 2016 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.