Why waves in the Great Lakes are so big?

There is an annual high in the late spring and low in the winter. These changes occur at a rate that can be measured in feet per month. Wind and weather conditions on the Great Lakes may create a seiche, an oscillating wave which can be several feet high.



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Since Lake Michigan's waves are caused by the wind, when there's a strong wind from the north traveling down the more than 300 miles of Lake Michigan, the waves hitting the south shore can become gigantic.

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The lakes have more coastline than the East and West coasts combined! While ocean waves are created by distant storm systems, waves on the Great Lakes are formed by localized winds.

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“The waves hit you every three to five seconds in the Great Lakes, where in the ocean it might be 10 to 12 seconds between waves,” said Guy Meadows, a Michigan senior research scientist.

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So you know how when you go for a dip in the ocean and you come out covered in salt crust and with the distinct stench of rotting seaweed? Yeah, that doesn't happen in the Great Lakes. The water may be colder, but it's wonderfully clean.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet). By most measures, it is the healthiest of all the Great Lakes.

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From some vantage points, the Great Lakes feel more like vast inland seas than freshwater lakes. But the 6 quadrillion gallons (~23 quadrillion liters) sloshing in Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario, and Erie represent one fifth of the planet's fresh water.

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Because while our lakes are Great, they're comparatively much smaller than oceans. And the gravitational pull isn't strong.

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While there have been past “sightings,” most have turned out to be pranks or misidentifications. The reality is that the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior and Michigan) are extremely deep lakes that are too cold for sharks.

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In most cases, lakes are confined to smaller fetches which limit wave size, but the Great Lakes are large enough to produce frequent swells up to several metres. However, the highest ever recorded waves were 8.7 metres, outside of Marquette, Michigan, on Lake Superior.

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Lake Michigan's riptide and longshore tides are unparalleled when it comes to danger among all the Great Lakes. In fact, due to its unnaturally strong winds, it's not unusual for this lake to have strong rip currents that can be dangerous for swimmers.

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In contrast, wave heights on the Great Lakes are greatly limited. Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, experiences the highest waves, topping out at about 30 feet. Marine forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Romeoville say the highest waves on Lake Michigan are 20-23 feet in height.

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How did the Great Lakes get so deep? The Great Lakes are deep due to the heavy glaciers slowly moving north over time. The weight of these glaciers caused the now Great Lakes to become deeper as they moved.

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The Great Lakes are freshwater ecosystems. Traditionally, Lake Michigan, for example, has been a very low-salt lake, with levels around one milligram of chloride per liter of water. Over the years, due to our increased salt use, that level has steadily but gradually climbed up to 15 milligrams per liter.

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Lake Erie is the shallowest and warmest of the Great Lakes.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet).

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This means that Lake Michigan has been responsible for around 45% of Great Lakes drownings this year, more than double the death toll of any other Great Lake.

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Drinking Water - State of the Great Lakes. The 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement states that “the Waters of the Great Lakes should be a source of safe, high quality drinking water”. Approximately 8.5 million Canadians and 19.5 million Americans get their drinking water from the surface waters of the Great Lakes.

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Watershed's surface: 209,000 square kms. Lake Superior is the largest, cleanest, and wildest of all the Great Lakes.

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Lake temperatures are largely driven by interactions with the atmosphere, so colder air temperatures lead to colder lake temperatures, according to the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL).

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