Lake Erie Dropped 7' in a Few Hours on the West End

(Satellite)

Meteorologist Chris Vickers posted two photos with the comment:

CHECK THIS OUT!

Here is Ethan standing on the bottom of Lake Erie near the docks at Kelly's [Kelleys] Island. The intense sustained winds pushed the Lake Erie waters to the eastern basin of the lake.

Lake Erie dropped an incredible 7 FEET as measured near Toledo.

📸: Eddie Ehrbar

Al Haskell shared

Steve Keeping: This was common in the fall having to wait in high winds for the water level to go up.

1
Diane McKune: All the water came to Canada and as far as Niagara Falls. Flooded alot of properties on its way.

2
Emily Rose: That could really change the depth of the shipping channel couldn't it.

Sarah Wingenroth commented on Chris' post
This was us on bayshore road in oregon yesterday, about 100 yards away from the shore.... never saw the lake that far away from the rocks before... very cool .. we were technically where the water was suppose to be!!

Satellite
[So does Sarah's photo mean this bay was essentially empty?]

Kyle Rider commented on Chris' post
From Lakeside Marblehead

Kyle commented on his comment
What it normally looks like..

I know seiches can cause rapid changes in the water level in Lake Michigan at Chicago. But I guess this was caused by a storm surge. [MichiganSeaGrant] Every news report I looked at called it a seiche even though there was no oscillation in the water level above and below the normal level. The shallow depth and east/west orientation of Lake Erie amplifies the size of the surge.

wgrz
Buffalo saw a rise of 7' and it flooded parts of the town.

weather.com
The flooding on the east end was exacerbated by the already high water levels on the Great Lakes. Erie is still nearly 3' above its long-term average.