Lake Ontario is drying up

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/nyregion/22oswego.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The article describes Lake Ontario as being down seven inches. But you can't know how much that is, unless you've seen it.

I have.

My parents live on an island in Lake Ontario, and at the base of their property is a limestone beach. It is one of my favourite spots in the world, because the water is clear and not murky at all, and I can dive in and explore a huge range of underwater terrain. There are lots of interesting fish swimming there, and I enjoy going down and cataloguing the various fish species I've seen (I once saw an eel, which my mother was not thrilled to learn.)

The last time I was up there, two weeks ago, I did not recognize the waterfront. The water is an acre away from where erosion has washed away the cliffs, which the water can no longer come close to reaching. There is now a huge expanse of limestone terrain (I won't call a lot of it beach now - some of it, now, is simply not close to the water.)

The extent to which the water has retreated from the shore is incredible. It is literally like going to the sea, and finding that the sea is drying up. (Lake Ontario, if you've never been there, looks like the ocean.)

So far in my world, global warming has meant more pleasant falls, and shorter winters. But this? It is dramatic, and frightening.