Less ambient light in Lake Michigan this year

[Vtach]

It was not that long ago that diving in Lake Michigan was pretty much braille diving with single digit vis.  After the Zebra mussel invasion we have seen a drastic change in visibility which has been great for divers and not so great for many other reasons.  But I would guess that just like any other organism, when you have a drastic population boom you see a reduction in food supply and then a die off until food supply repopulates.  In my opinion, we are going to continue to see a "yo-yo" effect in regard to visibility as zebra populations also fluctuate depending on their food supply.  High vis = warmer water = more algae = more zebras = less algae = lower vis = cooler water = less algae = zebra pops reduce....and so on.

I'm sure that it is not this simple and there are more contributing factors to the situation but I would bet the general "yo-yo" idea is appropriate. 
I am definitely less of an "expert" than Tami is but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night. ;D