Experts are predicting that the harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie this summer will be smaller than last year’s, which was the third-largest ever recorded, but will be larger than the mild bloom in 2016. The bloom is expected to measure 6 on the severity index, but could range between 5 and 7.5, according to a forecast issued yesterday by a team of scientists including from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program.
Forecast announced at Stone Lab
The forecast was announced during a media briefing hosted by CFAES’s Stone Lab, located at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. More than 250 people participated either in person or by webinar.
Read more in press releases published by CFAES and NOAA and Ohio Sea Grant. (Photo: Satellite image taken yesterday showing harmful algae beginning to bloom in Lake Erie’s western basin and in Lake St. Clair to the north; NOAA CoastWatch, Great Lakes Region.)