This is just discussing the typical seasonality. Water levels drop over winter until spring occurs:
> In a large fluctuating water level regime of the Great Lakes, we could say the lakes are close to average water levels now.
> We have moderate to severe drought around the Great Lakes now. If we continue with drier than normal weather, the lake levels will soon slip to below normal levels.
While Lake Ontario's outflows do have control via locks/dams, the other lakes do have various dams controlling in-flows from tributaries. No idea how much these other ones are actually used for lake level control:
> Lake Ontario’s water level can be regulated somewhat through the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The water in Lake Huron two years ago was absolutely insane. Docks and the floor of many cottages were underwater. These were structures built 50 - 75 years ago.
Always helpful to quantify phrases like “drop in the bucket”. Lake Superior, by most estimates, holds 3-4 quadrillion gallons of fresh water. A 1T gallon loss is indeed a drop in the bucket!
> In a large fluctuating water level regime of the Great Lakes, we could say the lakes are close to average water levels now.
> We have moderate to severe drought around the Great Lakes now. If we continue with drier than normal weather, the lake levels will soon slip to below normal levels.
While Lake Ontario's outflows do have control via locks/dams, the other lakes do have various dams controlling in-flows from tributaries. No idea how much these other ones are actually used for lake level control:
> Lake Ontario’s water level can be regulated somewhat through the St. Lawrence Seaway.