So Much for Waterspouts

Waterspouts were in the marine forecast for Lake Michigan today. For that matter, they’re still there through tomorrow. But while people on the west side of the pond witnessed a few spouts, they didn’t materialize here on the Michigan shore.

With a closed upper low retrograding to the southwest and a persistent land breeze pushing convergence well offshore, out over the middle of the lake, any waterspouts that formed were far out of view from Michigan eyes. From the South Haven beach where Nick Nolte and I were hanging out, I could see a line of low towers pushing up over the waters 20 or 30 miles to west, moving ever-so-slowly to the northwest. The only Michiganians who might have seen a spout were boaters.

Sigh … I got up bright and early and arrived at the beach around 8:00 a.m., but the waterspouts eluded me. Nothing new there. I have yet to see a spout, but I live in hope.

The clouds over the lake were pretty, though, lit by the morning sun. I snapped a few photos just to show I was there, paying my waterspout dues. I figure that if I keep slipping tokens into the slot, pretty soon I’m bound to come up with a winner. Meanwhile, a few pics on a cool, moody September morning on the lakeshore aren’t a bad compensation prize.