Weather Questions for the SS GTG

Question for the seasoned experts on Lake Michigan…

Whats good weather.. whats best weather and whats going to keep us off the lake ?

Good weather is anything that puts a mild chop on the surface of the lake.
Bad weather is anything resembling lightning or wind that puts 4 footers or better on the surface of the lake.

Here’s a couple links that I always follow: (not that there always accurate but a guys gotta start somewhere)

Wind, waves & weather for Milwaukee

National Weather Forcast Milwuakee, WI

Lake Michigan Wave Height Forecast

You can start watching those sites now but I really don’t think much about them until about 1-1/2 days prior.

Dave Koonce wrote:

Question for the seasoned experts on Lake Michigan…

Whats good weather.. whats best weather and whats going to keep us off the lake ?

Dave I’m buying you one of those weather rocks for Christmas.

If winds are forcasted above 5-10 mph, with an east component, that’s potentially bad. Hopefully not an issue this weekend.

When it comes to the forecast for Lake Michigan, what I’ve found is you can look at 4 different sites and see 4 completely different forecasts. Some consistently forecast on the upper extreme and some on the lower. When it comes down to it, most of them are wrong further than 5 minutes out.

Last trip out of Milwaukee called for 2 to 4 foot waves and it was calm almost all day. Last year, the night before a trip the forecast was 1 to 2, but when coming out of the gap it was more like 4 to 6. That one sucked big time.

I guess the moral of the story is cross your fingers and hope for good conditions, read the forecasts, and then ignore them.

“I guess the moral of the story is cross your fingers and hope for good conditions, read the forecasts, and then ignore them.”
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That’s probably the best weather advice I’ve heard for down here. Only real way to be kind of sure what the lake is going to be like is to know what its been like the 48hrs prior to when your going out. Im lucky enough that I drive over the Hoan bridge two times a day and get a real good idea of what she’s doing on a regular basis.

Like Joel said, all forecasts are pretty much useless much more than 48hrs ahead of time, and even then, they can be way off. At this point, we look fine for the weekend. Perhaps a little bumpy mid day on Saturday but Sunday looks really good. I’ll keep an eye on it and if I have any feelings that things might get rough, I’ll post it here right away. As of right now though, I think we’re gonna be fine….

Current forecast calling for 45-55% chance of thunder late Friday through 7 AM Saturday starting at 67 degrees on shore at S Park wind SSW 5-7 mph. Mostly cloudy rest of Saturday morning, winds switching to WNW 5-9 mph. Partly cloudy in the afternoon, high of 82 at S Park. -ScoutLook Fishing

Can you tell yet I’m ready to go fishing and bail from my desk job?

MEEEE TOOOO !!!!

PLEASE! NO LIGHTENING….or huge rollers!
I’m ready…hope the fish are too

Unfortunately I won’t be able to get out of work until 2-3pm Friday. I think it’s going to be a very unproductive day at the office. Hope to be in brew town between 6:30 and 7:00pm

Good luck to you guys getting out on Friday, I hope you have great luck and can point us in the right direction to start the day Saturday.

Dave