Storm surges, Seiches and currents on the Great and not so great Lakes.(Or what you don’t know about flat water can hurt you, or make your trip a little more exciting)
Yes paddling on lake Superior and the other big lakes can be an amazing experience.
Agawa Bay, Lake Superior @ sunset.
But there are some important things to know, especially if you want to attempt some of the more remote spots along the Lake Superior Water Trail
This from The NOAA site
“Wind and weather conditions on the Great Lakes may create Seiche, an oscillating wave which can be several feet high. In many of the Great Lakes, the time period between the “high” and “low” of a seiche may be between four and seven hours. As this is very similar to the six-hour time period of the tides on the ocean, it is frequently mistaken for a tide.” unquote
Just to show you that it does not just happen on Superior here is one from Lake Erie, a 2 metre rise in levels caused by a seiche.
The thing to remember here is that just because you are on the “calm” or leeward side of the lake does not mean you are immune from a quick rise in levels. That water rise on the other side of the lake has to come back sometime.
Calm on Lake Superior, just west of Neys P.P. Please note how far the debris line is above the calm water line.
So why be concerned, well even if you are only on a day trip, conditions can change very quickly and if you get wind bound some place you will need to get above the storm surge line.
Simple reason is the water can turn into this very quickly.
Largest waves this day were approaching 2m, but the movie does not show the true size.
There is also a very strong and dangerous rip current here during wind events.
Washed beach from the Storm surge.
Not only do you need to be aware of how far the surge will go, but also the kind of debris you may encounter trying to land.
Pukaskwa National Park
There is a lot of power in those waves. Lake Superior Neys P.P. Just remember objects in the image are much bigger than they appear!
An important skill to develop is learning to read the rip currents and not only the wind and Seiche rip currents but also those created by strong flows coming in from the various rivers. Combined together you will find conditions that would challenge the best.
Rip currents in the Great lakes.
Great site to help you either find waves on your favourite beaches or to avoid a paddle on the big lakes.
Even though you may be in a fairly protected area you can not underestimate the effect of a Seiche. This at Killbear P.P. on the Kilcoursie Bay Beach. If you do not pull up your boat far enough you could lose it!
Or in the case of the rebound part of the Seiche effect it could create weird currents where you are not expecting any because the conditions where you are, are calm.
Smaller lakes also have their wind issues. It is something I learned early in my kayak sprint racing career is that certain courses were really unfair in particular lanes depending on the wind and the currents it created.
It was also one of the warnings I came across when researching my first trip to Newfoundland. The “Ponds” as they call them (their name for lakes) can have very dangerous wind created currents, and they were not kidding. We paddled Trout Pond in Gros Morne Nat. Park even with the winds easing off you could still feel the power of the wind driven current on the boat.
Ok Trout Pond really isn’t a little lake, so when the winds blow/funnel between the two geographic features length wise, that is a lot of water that can move.
Table Lands on the north side, yes there is a couple of kayaks in the pic
Narrows Head on the South side.
The lakes don’t need to be long or have big geographic features make your paddling more difficult.
On a spring trip in Queen Elizabeth II Wild Lands P.P., we knew the winds were going to pick up to 60 kph with possible guts to 80 and we got across Head Lake before they did but the West North West winds were the perfect angle for work in Fishog Lake. The shape of the lake was perfect for the wind to create a strong current down the middle and because of the island gave an outlet for that water flow it became a fairly hard paddle.
In this image the line in the middle is how the wind and current went, the blue circles are where there was eddies with actual identifiable eddy lines. We were paddling directly into the wind and current.
As much as this sounds scary, the idea is to help inform.
There is a good chance that if you know what to look for and what to expect then your chances of running into difficulty will be less and your will be much more comfortable with where you paddle because there are some great exotic places to paddle that are fairly easy to get to.