[Rhodes22-list] Lake Superior Cruise Weather Planning

[Jesse Shumaker]

Hi Roger, thanks for the historical weather trend details.  You make a good
point that the unusual cold this winter will probably result in a cooler
than normal summer since the water takes awhile to warm.  This year we will
be better prepared than last year, with foul weather gear and layers to
deal with whatever Lake Superior delivers.  I noticed that from the last
chart that the average wind speed is pretty low over the summer.  On our
trip last June we had some pretty strong sustained winds on several days
which made for exciting sailing.  I went back again in August with a friend
and we had much milder conditions on that trip.  I'll report back with a
recap after the trip this summer and let you know where we end up going.  I
look forward to hearing about your upcoming adventure as well.

Jesse Shumaker
S/V Zephyr

On Sat, Feb 27, 2021 at 7:19 PM ROGER PIHLAJA <Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> 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
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
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