S

SuperiorWaves

Aug 10, 2026 at 3:03 PM

Thunder Bay Marina Park · 6 km away

Where to go when the open lake is blown out

A northeast blow shuts down most of the Minnesota and Michigan shore, but there is almost always protected water somewhere. The reliable ones:

Thunder Bay behind Sibley - the peninsula caps the fetch at about 30 km no matter what the open lake is doing.
The Keweenaw Waterway - it cuts straight through the peninsula, so it is immune to any sea state at all.
Chequamegon Bay - long, narrow and closed off by Long Island. Warmest water on the lake as a bonus.
Munising Bay - Grand Island closes the mouth almost completely.
Whitefish Bay - short fetch from everywhere except due north.

Hit the conditions page with your own location and it will rank these by drive time against how much calmer they actually are today.

Boat

Conditions at Thunder Bay Marina Park today

Today

Sep 1 · light 7:14 AM to 8:38 PM

Excellent · 95

Excellent: best most of the day, waves around 0.4 m (1.4 ft).

0.2-0.4 m (0.6-1.4 ft)

gusts 22 kt

17 to 27 C

best 8 AM - 9 PM

Hour by hour

12 am

0.3m

2kt E 18°C

1 am

0.3m

1kt NE 17°C

2 am

0.2m

1kt ENE 17°C

3 am

0.2m

2kt SSE 17°C

4 am

0.2m

2kt SSW 17°C

5 am

0.2m

1kt NNW 17°C

6 am

0.2m

0kt ENE 17°C

7 am

0.2m

0kt ESE 17°C

8 am

0.2m

2kt WSW 17°C

9 am

0.2m

1kt WSW 17°C

10 am

0.2m

3kt SW 19°C

11 am

0.2m

5kt SW 22°C

12 pm

0.2m

7kt WSW 24°C

1 pm

0.3m

10kt WSW 25°C

2 pm

0.3m

12kt WSW 26°C

3 pm

0.3m

14kt W 27°C

4 pm

0.4m

14kt W 27°C

5 pm

0.4m

13kt W 25°C

6 pm

0.4m

11kt W 24°C

7 pm

0.4m

10kt W 24°C

8 pm

0.4m

7kt WNW 22°C

9 pm

0.4m

6kt WNW 20°C

10 pm

0.3m

6kt WNW 19°C

11 pm

0.3m

7kt WNW 18°C

Tuesday 10:00 AM

Daylight

Excellent · 99

Waves

0.2 m

0.7 ft · sets to 1 ft

Wind

3 kt

from the SW · gusts 7 kt

Fetch

3 km

Very short. Little room for waves to build.

Wave period

3.8 s

Longer, rolling water

Air

19 C

feels like 21 C

Water

14 C

Genuinely cold. Under an hour of use.

Visibility

16.9 km

Clear

Storm energy

0

Stable air

Why this hour scores 99

Light ripple at 0.2 m (0.7 ft), just enough to know you are on water rather than a mirror. It will feel cool out there, around 16 C in the boat even though the shore reads 27 C. Splash top and a warm layer under it. You will cool off fast the moment you stop moving. Water at 14 C. Fine for a quick dip if you are brave, not somewhere to linger. Aim for 8 AM to 9 PM.

The full picture

For power boat / runabout today, this is an excellent day, scoring 95 out of 100 across daylight hours. Waves range from 0.2 m (0.6 ft) to 0.4 m (1.4 ft), with wind from the WSW gusting to 22 knots at its worst. Daylight runs 7:14 AM to 8:38 PM. The best window is 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM (13 hours), and the single best hour is around 10 AM. In that window the water runs to about 0.4 m (1.4 ft) with wind to 14 knots. Worth watching: Water is 14 C. Survivable but genuinely cold. Assume you have well under an hour of useful movement if you end up in it. Gusts to 22 knots, which is 10 knots above the steady wind. Squally, uneven air like this makes handling unpredictable and kicks up chop in bursts. Short 3.5 second period, so this is stacked steep chop rather than a rolling swell. It will feel considerably worse than the same height on the ocean. In your favour, at the best of it: 19 C on shore, feeling like 18 C in the boat. Light layer you can shed. Comfortable moving, a bit cool sitting still. Near flat at 0.2 m (0.7 ft). This is as good as this lake gets. Light at 3 knots from the SW. Nothing to fight.

What drove this call

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