Lake Erie Wind Event - October 28th and 29th, 2015

On October 28th, I decided to skip class and ride along with George Kourounis and the Storm Hunters, Jaclyn Whittal and Mark Robinson, from The Weather Network to document the wind and waves at Port Stanley, located on the northern side of Lake Erie. We got hit with what may have been the moisture from the remanence of Hurricane Patricia (there's some debate on whether this was actually the case). The wind felt warm and mild and the water looked like chocolate milk as the sand got churned up. We saw some impressive waves hit the lighthouse.





The next day, on October 29th, George picked me up bright and early and this time we headed down to Crystal Beach, which is near the northeastern tip of Lake Erie. Mark and Jaclyn were already there, and apparently they spotted a waterspout in the distance about 15 minutes before we arrived! It was a shame to miss it, but it was pretty far away and didn't last long. Unlike at Port Stanley, the wind at Crystal Beach was far from mild. With gusts of up to 100km/hr, it was cold and unforgiving. We were also pelted by graupel -snow flakes coated in ice, so essentially pea sized hail flying at your face at almost hurricane force. This didn't seem to phase the surfers though. Like us, they were also in their element but in a different way. It's interesting how people are drawn to severe weather for different reasons and seem to come from all walks of life.

I edited together a little video of both days.