And They Say Great Lakes Don’t Have Tides...

[MonacoMike]

Today a nasty storm blew out of the northwest blowing massive amounts of water down Lake Michigan. My boat rose 3 feet from Friday morning and 2 additional feet just this afternoon only the fall 2 feet over a two hour period. Better have those lines tied right.

MM

 

[Steve S]

Today a nasty storm blew out of the northwest blowing massive amounts of water down Lake Michigan. My boat rose 3 feet from Friday morning and 2 additional feet just this afternoon only the fall 2 feet over a two hour period. Better have those lines tied right.

MM

 

[Golfman25]

Several years ago we had a big seiche. Water dropped prob three feet in maybe 30 min to an hour. Came back just as fast. Moved a bunch of fully loaded floating docks all out of position. Some where taken several feet from the shore. It was unbelievable.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Hmmmmm, waves 10 to 14 feet. Sorry guys but I think I'll pass. Good time to double up on your dock lines.

 

[MonacoMike]

We were hostage on the boat for about 4 hours. The Admiral looked out and saw our Yeti floating away down the main pier. It was cabled to a dock box that was floating itself. I ran out in the wind and rain storm in very cold mid-calf water to retrieve it.

A 40 and 36 SR DA both had their rear canvas curtains blown off. Both had the bungee transom connections that broke and then the whole back started to come apart tearing fabric and zippers.

Several boats broke their dock lines.

MM

 

[Steve S]

MM, I was lucky. My canvas held up ok but a few snaps kept coming undone. Was a constant battle to keep closed.

 

[sbw1]

Today a nasty storm blew out of the northwest blowing massive amounts of water down Lake Michigan. My boat rose 3 feet from Friday morning and 2 additional feet just this afternoon only the fall 2 feet over a two hour period. Better have those lines tied right.

MM

Or better yet, be high and dry in a clean, heated building. This is why we try to pull our boat on a sunny warm day in mid October. I don't see the advantage of waiting until the end of the season when we know the weather is going to be challenging. We are near the door so will be able to come out of storage early in the season when the weather will only get better instead of going down hill.

 

[Creekwood]

People talk about how great the fall boating is in the north. That is true for the month of September. By the time you get towards the second half of October, the fall gales start to become more and more frequent, and the short period waves and high winds take all the fun out of it. Especially when the gales of November come early.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
when the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
t'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya
At seven pm a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
and the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searches all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
if they'd put fifteen more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
they may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Lake Huron rolls, superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the gales of November remembered

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the maritime sailors' cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call 'gitche gumee'
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early.

Gordon Lightfoot
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc​

 

[RollerCoastr]

I was changing the oil on Saturday when straight-line winds came through that literally knocked me off my feet. I was glad to have v-drives with belts at the back, because the port engine was running when I was knocked against it.

When I looked up, the aft cabin next to me looked like it was about to slam into me. I thought he had broken a line, but he hadn't. Somehow, the wind was pushing him off his dock, but I was being pushed against the wind, toward him. Our lines had stretched, but were holding. I don't know if the water in the marina had caused something like a riptide, or if the wind was pushing back from the empty well on the other side of me, or if I had just "bounced" against the dock. I've never seen anything like it.

I'd guess it was something like 40 MPH? I can't imagine 140.

 

[MonacoMike]

I,ll bet my lines stretched 6 inches. My big fear was if it did not stop rising. When the water went over my pier it was not a big deal as that happens occasionally, when it was 6 inches deep it was wow, when it hit over a foot deep and all the vessels around me had their lines stretched to the max I became very concerned. Another foot and we would see dozens of broken lines or pulled cleats and almost no owners were present. The lines were tied on dock cleats 1-2 feet under the 40 degree water.

Makes me think about tying to the boat and the loop on the pier.

MM

 

[Gofirstclass]

Mike, your post caused me to go down to the boat yesterday and double up all my lines on the windward side of the boat.

We're down in AZ for 3 weeks so "Thanks" for that reminder to get it done before we left.

 

[sbw1]

The seasonal decline in the Great Lake water levels is well underway as these two pix show. The high level was August and the lower level shows Lake Michigan's level today.

 

[MonacoMike]

You sure would not see that at our end of the lake. Our levels in the marina are similar to August and then we have the north wind floods. Is it possible that your levels in the photo are due to the water being blown down south?

MM

 

[MonacoMike]

Duplicate

 

[MonacoMike]

Or better yet, be high and dry in a clean, heated building. This is why we try to pull our boat on a sunny warm day in mid October. I don't see the advantage of waiting until the end of the season when we know the weather is going to be challenging. We are near the door so will be able to come out of storage early in the season when the weather will only get better instead of going down hill.

FYI, Mine is now in a "clean, heated building". Yay!!!

MM

 

[Blueone]

Lake levels attached

 

[Gofirstclass]

On the Columbia we don't get tidal changes because the river levels are controlled by the USACE dams. What we do get is seasonal highs and lows due to snow melts, heavy rains, etc.

This time of year, with zero rain in months, the river is at what looks like an all time low. It's about 7' lower than what it was last spring. Amazing to see that much change on a river.

 

[MonacoMike]

Lake levels attached

How can that type of chart cannot account for the wind moving massive amounts of water? I will grant that some of our marina flooding may be from the north wind effectively damming the harbor so river flow cannot exit.

MM

 

[Blueone]

How can that type of chart cannot account for the wind moving massive amounts of water?

Hey...I am bored to tears at work... Your not going to be able to predict your BWAL's (blowing water around levels). I was just giving some actual lake level changes... just a public service announcement

 

[Blueone]

I stand corrected "Seiche effect"

Short-term fluctuations that often occur on the Great Lakes are wind set-up or storm surge, and a phenomenon known as a seiche. A storm surge or wind set-up consists of high sustained winds from one direction that push the water level up at one end of the lake and make the level drop by a corresponding amount at the opposite end.

http://geo.msu.edu/extra/geogmich/seiches.htm