Historic Two Story Waves In Michigan's Lake Superior

Would you believe an almost 30 foot wave in one of Michigan's Great lakes?

If any of you have been on the Great Lakes in Michigan during a storm you'll understand they can rival any ocean storm.

The webcam is 90 feet high, in the light-room at the lighthouse. Notice the building on top of the rock. The building is estimated at 10 feet tall. John Lenters estimates the top of the rock is 20 feet above the water surface. Here is another video from the same location. The spray from waves makes it almost 90 feet in the air.

Well it happened just a couple days ago and fully documented on a few levels.

www.mlive.com...

The buoy in Lake Superior north of Munising, MI recorded a 28.8 foot wave at 9:30 a.m. this morning, October 24, 2017.

It isnt a lake.

Its one of the Seven Seas.

I'm on Lake Michigan and we've seen 18'-20' waves many times.

a reply to: Realtruth

I saw that earlier this week....unbelievable.
mLive does a great job with it's weather reporting.

And those winds, up to 70mph.....tropical storm strength or near abouts.

Shows how the Eddie Fitz could have gone down so fast.

a reply to: Realtruth



Ummm...that's the best time to go boat surfing...just after the storm has passed...while the waves are still huge...

You should try it sometime...





YouSir

a reply to: Realtruth

My family and I travel to the UP and Lake Superior every other year for a summer vacation. I think we may have to head up there and check out the weather in October or November. I love storms and the Great Lakes region.

originally posted by: mikell
I'm on Lake Michigan and we've seen 18'-20' waves many times.

Lake Michigan also has Rip-tides that kill people I found that out this summer while camping there. I noticed the signs on the beach, then talked with local police that confirmed why the signs were up.

I've been humbled out on lake Erie once, when an unexpected storm rolled in and I was piloting a 26 foot Bayliner. I had 4 grown men crying in the cuddy area below and 2 on deck helping me navigate back via the compass, (before GPS was available) lol. We got back, but all needed a changed of pants, and it wasn't from being wet.

The Great lakes are nothing to take lightly at any time.

originally posted by: mikell
I'm on Lake Michigan and we've seen 18'-20' waves many times.

Ummm...yup...I'm on the eastern shore of lake Ontario...
Storms on the great lakes will rival many storms on the oceans...

I don't know if it's resonance...as the waves and current (can you say undertow) rebound around the lake...but the waves tend to be tighter grouped...closer together than on the oceans...

The wind sure can push a wall of water...can't it...?




YouSir

a reply to: Realtruth

The great lakes are no joke, as this song attests to.

We had a couple of people who were out on Black Rocks looking at the waves during that storm. They got washed into Lake Superior and died, I think they found one of them floating, they haven't found the other yet as far as I know. People saw it happen and there was nothing they could do. The rescue teams couldn't go look for them either, it was too bad and there was no sign of them from shore.

It really tore up the lakeshore, roads are broken into big chunks and rocks are fifty feet from the shores. Look up the storm in Marquette on the net. We went look at the damage, it is amazing how it tore everything up. It will cost many million bucks to fix that up again. The Presque Isle park is still closed as well as part of Lakeshore Blvd.

We lost power at our house for an hour or more five out of seven days. The day of the storm we had lost it twice, both times over three hours. A semi hit two poles a few days before and knocked out power for three and a half hours. The day before it was out for an hour and a half and the day before that it was out for almost two hours, those were caused by trees falling on the lines from a storm too.

Two dead, they were from out of town. I do not know the particulars of what happened but those rocks are at least twenty five feet high, I jumped into the lake off of them once thirty three years ago. There was a big rock where I jumped about eight feet below the surface, I changed from a deep to a shallow dive when I saw it and screwed up my back. I guess people who dive it regularly know not to dive there, but we did not know.

My Mom grew up in Duluth, MN, on Lake Superior. She said there were a few historic storms with 50 foot waves. Sometimes storms on Lake Superior take down tankers and huge freight ships.

Some of my best memories are of summers in Manistee. My grandfather was a volunteer firefighter, with a love of storms. I loved being taken to the beach, as a storm was rolling in.
Also a great lesson in common sense from a man that knew the hazards.

The Great lakes are nothing to mess with. But such a beauty to behold.

Lake Superior has a strong & undisputed reputation for being a ship killer for a reason. Even growing up in FL, we knew full well how much fury that lake can release on a dime and respected it from across the country. That says something when a hurricane state tips their hat and goes "You win."