Sunday looks like it’ll be a nice day as long as you stay on dry land – partly sunny, temperatures in the 70s. Just be careful if your plans include anything to do with Lake Michigan.
The National Weather Service has a full boat of warnings out regarding the lake today – from a small craft advisory to a gale watch to a rip current statement.
The small craft advisory – which warns inexperienced boaters and small boats to stay ashore – is in effect from 10 a.m. this morning to 4 a.m. Wednesday for the entire lake. In the advisory for the immediate Chicago-area, the agency says there could winds as high as knots coming from the north, with the possibility of waves ranging from 12 to 16 feet high.
Those high winds also resulted in the gale watch, which is for lake waters farther from shore. That watch is in effect until Monday evening for the entire lake south of a line running from north of Sheboygan, Wis., on the west to Pentwater, Mich., on the east. The watch warns of winds as high as 35 knots from the north, with waves running from 12 to 16 feet.
The winds that will make things dicey for boaters are also behind the rip current concerns that affect swimmers at beaches in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan on the southern tip of the lake. The weather service says the risk level is high for rip currents through Wednesday morning, with waves building for 4 to 7 feet Sunday to 8 to 12 feet on Monday.
Swimmers caught in rip currents, fast-flowing water moving away from shore, shouldn’t try to swim back to shore through the current, the agency said. Instead, they should swim parallel to the shore until out of the rip current and then move toward shore.
Looking ahead to Monday, temperatures will drop even more with a high in the mid 60s. That could be the first high lower than 70 degrees since June 24.
