[Rhodes22-list] Lake Superior Cruise Weather Planning

[ROGER PIHLAJA]

Hi Jesse.

The attached .pdf file has NOAA weather data on the average water & air temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed/wind direction for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  This sort of data is what I use to plan our family High Adventure Trips.  The weather for the Apostle Islands should be similar to the weather in western Lake Superior (i.e. any of your proposed cruises).

As you look at these graphs, keep in mind these are averages over a long period of time; but, the extremes are also plotted.  Over the winter of 2020/2021, ~90% of the surface of Lake Superior was ice covered.  This much ice cover is a fairly rare event.  It takes a long time to warm up the world’s largest lake when it starts from frozen!  Therefore, unless we have an early, very warm spring and summer, I am expecting the water and air temperatures to be lower than average this coming summer in July and August.

So, expect cool temperatures, light winds, with a possibility of rain ~1 out of every 4 days.  Of course, Lake Superior will do whatever it wants to do on any given day.  You must respect it and be prepared.  Hopefully, this will help with your cruise planning.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

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