Early warning for ‘big bloom’ of algae on Western Lake Erie

In what has become a seasonal service provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science using the data collected by Heidelberg University’s National Center for Water Quality Research, Western Lake Erie’s algae bloom could be moderately severe this summer. These researchers said that the severity index value could range from 2.5 to 6.0. That is, unless precipitation rates diminish during the rest of the spring, which would allow bloom size to remain smaller.