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We are battening down the Hatches here in Northern Michigan today. As the old song says, “The Gales of November came early”

Read this From Great Lake ans Seaway Shipping Daily News and Bloomberg :

A storm stronger than the one that sank the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 is expected to slash across the Midwest tomorrow whipping waves as high as 27 feet.

A line of severe thunderstorms driving wind gusts of 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour will arrive in Chicago before 10 a.m., said Andrew Krein, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Romeoville, Illinois.

The storm will be a cyclone, with projected central pressure, a measure of its strength, forecast to be 28.35 inches. That would make it the second most severe system to strike the Great Lakes, according to the weather service.

The Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Nov. 10, 1975, in Lake Superior about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. The Edmund Fitzgerald storm had a central pressure of 28.95 inches. The strongest storm recorded in the lakes was the “Great Ohio Blizzard” of January 1978, which had a central pressure of 28.05 inches.

In comparison, when Hurricane Earl reached Category 3 strength in the Atlantic at the end of August, its central pressure was recorded at 28.20 inches.

Great Lakes cyclones aren’t like hurricanes, however, Krein said. The storms gather their energy from the Jet Stream and the upper atmosphere, while hurricanes draw their power from warm ocean waters and have the strongest winds wound tightly around the core.

Krein said the storm also isn’t likely to produce a lot of rain. Aside from the heavy thunderstorms that arrive with the first blast of wind, the weather will be drier and breaks may appear in the clouds.

The blue sky shouldn’t deceive anyone, he said. The storm will last at least two days and will cause a problem for ships.

In advance of the storm, the weather service has issued a high wind watch from South Dakota to Ohio. A watch means sustained winds of as much as 40 mph are possible. In addition, a high wind warning, meaning gusts of 75 mph are possible, has been issued for parts of northern Illinois and Wisconsin, according to the weather service.

Open lake forecast for the region are included below:

Lake Superior
Storm warning Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday, winds building to 55 knots, waves 22 – 27 feet.

Lake Michigan
Storm warning with winds building Tuesday 50 – 60 knots, waves building to 20 – 25 feet through Wednesday.

Lake Huron
Gale warning and storm watch through Wednesday. Winds building to 40 knots waves building to 18 feet.

Lake Erie
Gale watch through Tuesday, wind building to 35 knots Tuesday, waves building 9 – 12 feet by Thursday. Heavy westerly gales predicted for Thursday may cause a siech effect dropping water levels on the eastern end of the lake and rising on the western side, further delaying shipping.

Lake Ontario
The system will weaken and pull northeast but still bring 30 knot winds on Wednesday with waves building to 6 – 8 feet.

I guess whatever leaves are left in the trees will be gone by Thursday. Maybe they will blow out of my yard and I won’t have to rake. One can only wish!

-Mike

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It’s a bit more work but I think it’s worth it.

Catch me later!
-Mike

Podcast (unplugged): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17 — 1.8MB) | Embed

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