Huge waves have been reported on southern Lake Michigan this afternoon, and should continue into the evening.
The southern Lake Michigan buoy reported a 15.1 foot wave height at 4 p.m. this afternoon. The wind should continue to turn northwesterly and increase the wave heights this evening.
So far here are the highest wind gusts:
South Haven - 51 MPH
Big Sable Point Buoy - 45 MPH
St. Joseph - 43 MPH
This storm is similar to last week's storm that produced the second highest wave ever recorded since the southern Lake Michigan Buoy has been in place.
These are the wave heights at the southern Lake Michigan Buoy. Notice the surge in wave heights during the afternoon today. At 5 p.m. the wave height is reported at 15.4 feet.
The waves have rapidly increased in size today, building from 3 foot waves at 7 a.m. to 15.4 foot waves at 5 p.m. This graph shows how quickly the waves increased in size today. The waves were running around three feet in height for the past couple of days. When the north wind picked up today, the waves increased over 12 feet in the last eight hours.
The wave forecast at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 6, 2014 projects waves up to 18 feet in size to be located near Benton Harbor, MI.
The wave heights should top out between 7 p.m. and midnight tonight. Here is a forecast of the wave heights at 7 p.m. tonight. It shows the area expecting the highest waves will be the southern Lake Michigan shoreline from Benton Harbor to South Haven.
The waves at Benton Harbor could build to nearly 18 feet. Much of the rest of the Lake Michigan shoreline between Muskegon and the Indiana border should have waves of 10 to 15 feet tall.
The winds will diminish fairly rapidly with this storm system. A strong storm is forming on the east coast, and will suck the storm center over Michigan into the main storm out east. So look for still breezy conditions by morning, but only to the tune of 15 to 25 MPH winds.
Those winds will be out of the northwest, and a sign of things to come. This week we are talking about wave heights. Next week we will probably be talking about snow heights in parts of Michigan.
MLive Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa has been forecasting Michigan weather for more than 20 years. He's been chief meteorologist at three television news stations in Michigan, and he's an avid gardener and hunter. Email him at mark@farmerweather.com and find him on Facebook at facebook.com/mark.torregrossa and Twitter @weathermanmark