"An increasingly warm climate is worsening the problem of harmful Great Lakes algae blooms by boosting the intensity of spring rains that wash phosphorus into the waters, a scientist said Wednesday during a conference for advocates and policymakers."

"The trend is likely to continue over the coming century, heightening the urgency to control runoff of dissolved phosphorus that promotes excessive algae growth, said Don Scavia, director of the University of Michigan's Graham Sustainability Institute.

"Weather really matters now," Scavia said during a conference in Cleveland for scientists, advocates and government officials from the eight states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes region."

John Flesher reports for the Associated Press September 13, 2012. [2]