Dear Tom,
Recently I noticed that the water temperature from the southern Lake Michigan buoy is not available. Is it malfunctioning?
Tom Delahunty, Glenview
Dear Tom,
The water temperature report from the southern Lake Michigan buoy will not be available again until the spring. The National Data Buoy Center, a part of NOAA, removes all eight of the buoys that are deployed in the Great Lakes early each December and does not return them to service until March because of potential damage from ice to the various buoy sensors.
The southern Lake Michigan buoy, known as 45007, is located in the middle of Lake Michigan just north of the Illinois- Wisconsin border about 50 miles ESE of Milwaukee and provides invaluable data including wind direction and speed, air and water temperatures, and wave heights from early spring through late fall.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
