High winds causing water to ‘vanish’ from western Lake Erie

The massive chilly entrance transferring into the Nice Lakes area, bringing heavy snow, excessive winds and gale warnings on the Nice Lakes in some areas, can also be anticipated to trigger storm surge on Lake Erie – a phenomenon that would depart shoreline places wanting as if the lake has drained away.

“This will likely be one of many strongest we have had shortly, doubtlessly pushing 10 to 4 ft of water eastward from the western basin of Lake Erie,” stated David Marsalek, a meteorologist with the Nationwide Climate Service in Cleveland.

Jet Categorical Ferry to Put-in-Bay, Kelleys Island and Cedar Level, situated in Port Clinton, Ohio, on his Facebook page Wednesday, November 26, posted photographs exhibiting that Lake Erie’s waterline had receded considerably, with a big expanse of nothing however moist sand the place the lake as soon as was.

The forecast referred to as for gale warnings on Lake Erie with winds of 35 to 40 knots, or 40 to 46 mph. The wind is from the southwest, which is conducive to expelling water from western Lake Erie, Marsalek stated.

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“When you take a look at Lake Erie and the way it’s oriented, it is west-southwest to east-northeast,” he stated. “Primarily, the sturdy winds push water from the western basin of the lake into the japanese basin.”

A low tide warning is in impact for western Lake Erie till 4 a.m. Friday, November 28.

“That is for any navigational curiosity,” Marsalek stated. “Relying on the quantity of depth a ship wants, dropping water ranges is usually a downside.”

In the meantime, the storm surge including water to japanese Lake Erie has Buffalo forecasting waves of as much as 25 ft.

Jay Austin, a professor of physics and astronomy on the College of Minnesota-Duluth, has studied water displacement and seiches on the Nice Lakes.

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“The effectiveness of the wind to create these massive coastal displacements is a perform of how deep the lake is,” he stated. “Shallow lakes are extra inclined to that than a deep lake like Superior or Ontario.”

The pushing of water from one facet of an enclosed physique of water to the opposite, after which its return, can generally type a seiche (pronounced ‘saysh’) – creating a big wave on the coast with the quickly returning water, just like water sloshing in a tub. A seiche on Lake Michigan created a 10-foot wave swept eight people off the piers in Chicago to their deaths on June 26, 1954.

However Marsalek stated no seiche is predicted with the present climate.

“We anticipate the winds to progressively lower and alter route over time,” he stated. “It would take some time for the water to return to the western basin of the lake.”

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.