Corps: Lake Michigan level climbing, but still low Associated Press GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Lake Michigan has climbed 7 inches higher than this time last year, but remains 17 inches below historic averages for March, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lake level is expected to continue to rise, but probably no more than 4 or 5 inches through August, said Marie Strum, chief of the watershed hydrology branch for the Corps' Detroit office. "Water levels on Michigan and Huron are improved over last year at this time, but they're still significantly below average," Strum said. Water levels have declined in the past few years to 30-year lows. Nearly all the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair are expected to be above last year's levels, said Cynthia Sellinger, a hydrologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich. A substantial snow pack in the Lake Superior basin means lakes Michigan and Huron should also continue to rise, though all are still well below long-term averages. Ice cover in winter 2002-03 lasted well into the spring, keeping last summer's water temperatures low and reducing evaporation. This winter's ice wasn't as extensive as last year but was better than in previous years, which were some of the warmest on record, officials said. Fair amounts of snow melt also are replenishing the Great Lakes basin, which contains 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh surface water.