Lake Michigan Surface Temps
Posted by JAC on 11/29/2010, 3:52 pm



This is a graph of the overall water temperature of Lake Michigan.  

Click here to find the data going back to 1994 for each of the Great Lakes.  

http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/stat/statistic?region=m&template=stat

Note that the lake is warmer now than in any late November going back to 2004 (and probably beyond).  

November is averaging 3 degrees warmer than normal in G.R., the 13th consecutive month with above average temperatures.  

The water temperature of Lake Michigan is only one element in the equation for lake-effect snow, but you can see that given the right conditions, the potential is there for some decent lake-effect snow.  

You can see the lake stayed relatively cool during the cool summer of 2009.

We had a big windstorm in early September this year (gust 40+ on Sept. 2 and 3 and gust to 51 mph on the 7th), and you can see the crash in surface temperatures as that strong wind mixed the warmer surface water with cooler water from below.  

In general, the lake warms up rapidly in May and June, and usually peaks in August.  

The coldest the lake gets is usually at the end of February.


http://blogs.woodtv.com/category/bills-blog/



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Lake Michigan Surface Temps - JAC, 11/29/2010, 3:52 pm
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