Based on your recent ice photos, probably not your neighborhood?
Link? Sounds like an amusement park ride.
I’ll be right there…
Depends on which way the wind is blowing. Great Lakes have only minimal ice coverage this year so some ice flows get moved around by the wind. As to those 20’ swells, not surprising as we’ve had ongoing high winds and heavy lake effect snow today (over an inch an hour), causing white-outs and more shoreline erosion. Just checked the Great Lakes forecast and wind speeds are 40 kts.
Sunday is supposed to be sunny and warmer, so I plan to drive to my favorite launch site on Sturgeon Bay and check how much the shoreline has changed. Our record breaking high water levels cause a lot of problems, but also make things easier for launching a kayak.
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Lake Michigan along Lake County (IL) shoreline flat as glass the last two days.
Most of the Lake Michigan ice is up here in the tip of the Mitt.
https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glcfs.php?lake=l&ext=ice&type=N&hr=00
At least what little ice there is. No spring paddles with the ice blobs, I guess.
The Great Lakes can get wicked, fresh water can stand tall and wave frequency can be sooo quick.
I’ve sailed in near 20 footers twice on Lake Huron. The biggest I’ve seen recorded on the center Lake Huron Buoy were 12 to 15 meter seas, low mean average. 1 in 10 is 25% larger, 1 in 100 is 50% larger. Which means, a few times that night there were 60 footers out there. Long ago,
Storm of November 1913 ? Of 16 freighters down bound past Mackinaw that one day, only one made it to port. The last ship to be found was not located until the 1980’s?
The Great Lakes can get wicked, and you can near spit from one crest to the next.
Somewhere on the internet is a collection of photos taken by a woman photographer who wanted to show how nice Lake Erie was in a winter storm. It’s some of the scariest stuff I’ve ever seen. Enormous breakers crashing into one another at odd angles, exploding waves the size of houses. Every one of those pictures could be captioned, “This is where fools go to die.”
It was Superior , but The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald comes to mind.
Here’s a few photos showing a “gift” from Lake Erie after Saturday’s storm:
This is what our local pier and lighthouse look like on a windy day on Lake Michigan.
Those photos make me feel better about our near constant drizzle and chilly temps.
Rime of the Soon To Be Less Ancient Mariner
Imagine that y’er out ta sea,
try’n ta round the Horn,
the spars ‘n riggin’ be frozen fast,
much rime on mad reason wind’s born,
the maidenhead she’s plungin’ in deep,
keel moans a’bottomin’ trough,
one arm be flail’n in hope of axe hacks,
other desperately clings from fly-off,
y’er loosin’ the battle 'gainst weighted topside,
up watery wall hull will wallow,
the crystalline ghost seizes with her sea host,
your soul will now Davy Jones follow.
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Got worse today, but not in northern Lake Michigan. Am guessing things are rowdy in TomL’s area.
Getting tempted to bring a boat home from its winter spa and go exploring.