Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 18° under partly-cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 42°, also under partly-cloudy skies with winds increasing up to 21 mph!. So, in spite of the balmy temperatures today, those winds will mean that the "Real Feel" will be much lower. The sun will rise today @ 8:07 a.m. and set later @ 5:09 p.m.

Another Small Craft Advisory will be in effect from 7:00 a.m. today until 7:00 p.m. Winds will be increasing out of the east this morning into the 20 knot range. Waves will be building to 2 to 4 feet. Those winds and waves are expected to produce hazardous conditions to small craft. Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions. Added into the mix there will also be another Lakeshore Flood Advisory for that same time period.

A recent posting from the NWS on the Weather.Com  website described the high water levels of all of the Great Lakes, including our own, "Big Lake."

Why are water levels so high this year?

According to an article posted by the NWS, the Great Lakes set several monthly records for highest levels during the May through August period and specifically lakes Erie and Ontario set all time records this past summer.

According to that same article, the reason for the record-high levels this year in the Great Lakes is excessive precipitation in the region. Above-average precipitation has plagued the Midwest for most of this year. The dominant pattern featured a parade of storms that dumped heavy snow and rain in the central U.S. since late last winter.
 
Chicago, Green Bay, WI, and Muskegon, MI, have all experienced their wettest year-to-date on record as of Dec. 8, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. Most locations in the Midwest have seen a top-10 wettest year-to-date.

All this precipitation eventually flows into rivers and lakes, including the Great Lakes. As a result, the wetter-than-average trend in the central U.S. this year has kept Great Lakes water levels high. Is this yet another example of Global Climate Change? You be the judge, but I am in the camp that says Chicken Little and that Little Boy Who Cried Wolf are right this time.

Mary finished her bread baking and then she was off to her "Tad Time" session at the library yesterday afternoon, leaving me and the fur-children to our own devices.  I/we had a good time. I finished up the indoor chores and then repaired to my studio for some time with my stringed "Girls." We sounded good and I revised some music, again. 

I also used some of my free time to put brush to canvas. One of these days, I'll finish a painting, but however long that takes really doesn't matter. It's all about the "Relaxation Factor", as I like to think of it.

As the afternoon wound down, Mary emailed me that she wanted to go to a store and get the notebook paper that we had forgotten the previous day. So, I fed the fur-children, took out the trash, and then set out to pick her up. We sojourned across busy Beacon Blvd. to that big-box drug store for that paper and then off to Stan's before heading home to receive a warm greeting from the fur-children.

A quick dinner of vegan burgers, some TV viewing and then I was off to fall asleep in the media room.

Mary kept herself busy before letting the fur-children out for their last visit around 10:45 p.m.

Today, we have nothing on our schedule until the chiropractor this afternoon. That's fine with me, as I am enjoying doing what I want when I want. Ciao.