Lake Michigan rises over a foot in less than an hour briefly submerging pier during ‘Great Lakes meteotsunami’ (Seiche)

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These pisctures of the Ludington North Breakwater were taken just 10 minutes apart by Ludington photographer Todd Reed, after a quick rise in water level known as a seiche caused the lake to rise 13.9 inches in just 42 minutes around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, April 13.

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Photos captured by Ludington-based photographer Todd Reed provide evidence of just how dramatic the phenomenon also known as a “Great Lakes meteotsunami” was. Todd and Brad Reed Photography

A quick rise in water levels occurred on Michigan’s Lake Michigan shoreline at 12:30 p.m. on April 13, 2018. This quick rise is called a seiche or a “Great Lakes meteotsunami.” The water rose 13.9 inches in just 42 minutes near Ludington.

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A quick rise in water levels occurred on Michigan’s Lake Michigan shoreline at 12:30 p.m. today. This quick rise is called a seiche, pronounced say-sh. A seiche has also been called a “Great Lakes meteotsunami.”

The water was as high as I had seen since Nov. 10, 1975, the day the freighter Edmond Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior. Water was also flooding the beach and the end of Ludington Avenue.

But it didn’t last long. Returning to nearly the same spot less than 10 minutes later, Reed observed that not only was the entire breakwater above water, but the rocks lining the outside of it were highly visible.

The seiche was also reported at Manistee. The National Weather Service at Gaylord reported: “Possible seiche event with rapid rise and fall of water on the Manistee River. Several docks were damaged. Flooding was reported on the riverwalk.”

There was a strong thunderstorm moving through at the time. Winds gusted to 40 mph during the thunderstorm. Half inch diameter hail also fell during the thunderstorm.

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Todd and Brad Reed Photography, MLive 1MLive 2

9 Comments

  1. PUBLIC SECURITY SECTION 9 AGENT LOGICOMA SAYS: Oh the friendly humans need to check out the SAT MAPS over the northern hemisphere. It appears that 66% of most ground has an extra abundance of double to triple snow depth levels. When this starts to melt off, the Great lakes may rise 4 to 6 inches in elevation, as the new level for this year. For the G.S.M. would most likely send in winter 2 to 4 weeks sooner than from the winter of the 2012 year,for the next winter of 2018/19. Freezing over the lakes sooner, will trap more fresh water inside of them, taking it longer to get back to the ocean? Wonder if this why the low tides are spooking the fisherman all over the globe. More and more water is either becoming trapped as cloud vapors or in ice, snow and rain on or over the land? I must now help this elderly guy named robert go to bed………by humans………

  2. I saw this Tsunami right on Lake Superior. Huge waves crashed against a cliff, splashed more than 100 feet!

  3. Earth wobble causing sloshing. Get used to these, they are happening in all types of bodies of water around the world, and will only get more frequent.

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