March 4, 2022

OSWEGO COUNTY — The second installment of the 2022 Lake Ontario Lecture Series is planned for Saturday, March 26 at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center in the city of Oswego.

 The second lecture, titled “Weather and Lake Ontario,” will be headlined by Judy Levan, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service (NWS) Buffalo office. It will focus on the unique weather and climate conditions in the eastern Lake Ontario region, in addition to weather forecasting and the current and historical impact of weather on human activity.

The lecture will start at noon and run about two hours. Anyone interested can attend in-person at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center, 26 E. First St., Oswego, or join virtually. The event is free to the public and light refreshments will be available.

Visit tinyurl.com/LakeOntarioWeather to register for in-person or virtual attendance.

Levan is a native of western New York and graduated from SUNY Oswego with a Bachelor of Science in meteorology. In addition to more than 40 years with the NWS, she is a member of the American Meteorological Society, National Weather Association and Federally Employed Women.

Organized by the local sanctuary advisory council, the March 26 event is the second installment in a three-part lecture series that included a Feb. 19 presentation by WPBS President Mark Prasuhn in Fair Haven titled “New York’s Seaway Lighthouses” and will conclude on April 30 with “Lake Ontario and the War of 1812” in Sackets Harbor.

The local Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council is a 15-member panel established to assist the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) in guiding the proposed national marine sanctuary (NMS) through the designation process. NOAA oversees the nation’s NMS system. For more information on the advisory council, visit https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lake-ontario/advisory/.

The proposed Lake Ontario NMS would encompass more than 1,700 square miles in eastern Lake Ontario to protect and showcase dozens of shipwrecks and other historically significant underwater assets. NOAA announced its intent to designate the marine sanctuary in April 2019, and in mid-2021 released draft documents related to the proposed sanctuary. For more information on the proposed Lake Ontario NMS, visit https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lake-ontario/.