A recent study by the USGS, which is receiving media attention, predicts the following: One effect of increasing air temperature as a result of the changing climate was the appreciable increase in the length of the growing season in the Lake Michigan Basin. The increase in growing season will cause an increase in evapotranspiration across the Lake Michigan Basin, which will directly affect soil moisture and late growing season streamflows. There is a problem that should cast some doubt on the likelihood of these predictions coming true: the length of the growing season is not increasing in the Lake Michigan Basin. Among the 11 NOAA National Weather Service climate regions in the Lake Michigan Basin area, only one has a significant increasing trend in the growing season length over the last three decades – balanced out by another region that has a significant declining trend.  The other nine regions have no significant trends since 1985. These climate...(Read Full Post)