In the summer of 2011, there were days when nearly one third of Lake Erie was covered in a bright green slop better known as an algae bloom. Sometimes poisonous and always a nuisance, the algae blooms were naturally predicted to be much worse in 2012. But the predictions were off, forcing NOAA to revise its prediction in July claiming that blooms would be mild. What happened? Severe drought. No heavy rains (or rain of any kind) mean less phosphorus run off from farms and no big sewage overflows from cities upstream to feed the blooms.
This begs the question, what happens when the rains return? What kind of planning is happening now?
