"Scientists Wary of Lake Superior Warming"

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - For Jay Austin, who has made a career of studying the Great Lakes, the warming climate around Lake Superior is no mystery. But he was surprised to find the waters of the lake itself warming even more rapidly.

Austin, a Duluth professor and a researcher with the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory, has studied decades of data. What he found was water temperatures rising almost twice as fast as air temperatures - more than 4 degrees for the average surface temperature.

The increase is having dramatic effects.

"The date of what we call the spring overturn has been getting earlier in the year," Austin said. "It's basically the start of the summer season in the lake. It's when you start to develop strong positive stratification: warm water sitting on top of cool water."

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20070227/D8NHNIN00.html

In fact I went to UMD, and this is something that been a concern for us living here. Recently our local newspaper talked about the fact that we are essentially in a drought here. We just got our first measurable snow last weekend. This has been affecting fishing and could also lead to the rise of more invasive species.