Yvonne Smith
Moderator
I was just reading this on X, and it seems to be another anomaly, because they do not normally have the gigantic waves like this. Has anyone heard anything more about what caused this ? @Jacob Petersheim , maybe ?
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Huge waves happening on all of the Great Lakes !
- Thread starter Yvonne Smith
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Don Alaska
Well-known member
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- Mar 10, 2025
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The Great Lakes can have what is called seiche waves that are often caused by winds blowing in a certain direction for long periods. This tends to "pile" water at one end or another, and when the wind drops it can set up a standing wave of incredible (for a lake) height.
What is a seiche?
A seiche is a 'standing' wave oscillating in a body of water.
oceanservice.noaa.gov
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
Yes, there have been high straight-line winds across the region for hours and gusting to 60 MPH quite regularly. So much wind and so constantly above 30 MPH that Lake Effect snow accumulation was "skipping" inland leaving coastal land almost bare this time.
So "the big slosh" of lake water was not unexpected. Every year or two we see a couple of such events.
Things have now calmed as the rotation moves Eastward, though it still isn't done with us. The next pattern coming during this weekend will be quite different in character and end up dumping even more snow over a wider area. Still lake-enhanced near the shoreline but dropping more snow overall.
We've had maybe 2" here at home but warm ground means all but a trace melted as it fell. Now I'm expecting 3 to 6 inches or more on the way, snow that will remain for a while. Probably through Christmas.
So "the big slosh" of lake water was not unexpected. Every year or two we see a couple of such events.
Things have now calmed as the rotation moves Eastward, though it still isn't done with us. The next pattern coming during this weekend will be quite different in character and end up dumping even more snow over a wider area. Still lake-enhanced near the shoreline but dropping more snow overall.
We've had maybe 2" here at home but warm ground means all but a trace melted as it fell. Now I'm expecting 3 to 6 inches or more on the way, snow that will remain for a while. Probably through Christmas.