The Coastal Stewardship Coordinator with the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation says many of their team of Coastal Watchers are reporting the loss of large trees along the Lake Huron shoreline to erosion.
Hannah Cann says higher than normal water levels in the lake at this time of year is contributing to that erosion.
And with volunteers, like the Coastal Watchers, they have fifteen years of data to track the conditions along the shoreline.
She also points to data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association over the last 100 years on all of the Great Lakes.
"So what they're seeing is we usually have a peak in July and then start to decline over the next six months, into December, January. So their predictions are that we're going to start seeing that decrease happen as summer comes to an end and we move into the fall, as per our regular fluctuation," said Cann.
But she points out the seasonal decline will only amount to one or two centimetres.
They are also monitoring the long term.
"Typically what we see is every seven, eight years we go from a low to a high and then from that high, back down to a low. So, the last time we were at a low was 2013. And now, being 2020, that's that kind of seven year mark," added Cann.
She does point out that predictions can only really be accurate over a period of about six months.
Our Coast Watchers Citizen Scientists are hard at work continuing to collect data across #LakeHuron! Many volunteers are reporting erosion and high lake levels across the coast which have caused erosion and a loss of trees on slopes! Lake levels are predicted to decline soon. pic.twitter.com/xK5D2jhCLt
— Lake Huron Centre (@CoastalCentre) July 28, 2020