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Lake Michigan is getting dangerously cold and a swim might kill you, so think twice before you take a dip

National Weather Service Grand Rapids has cautioned against swimming in the lake amid dangerously high waves and low temperature

Lake Michigan’s beach water temperatures are set to turn “dangerously cold” despite the country witnessing summer and this unique phenomenon is likely to continue for nexr few days. On Monday, August 3, National Weather Service (NWS) Grand Rapids alerted the same in a tweet and also explained why the beach water temperature is likely to drop so low. It issued the same warning seven hours later in another tweet.

“Cold water temps at Lake Michigan are expected over the next few days. The northerly flow will actually pull water away from the shore which causes upwelling along the coast. That will drop beach water temperatures dangerously cold,” it tweeted.

The tweet also said that the temperature along the shore could be between 40s and low-50s degrees Fahrenheit and warned that while a minute's exposure could give a cold shock, longer duration could result in incapacitation (10 minutes) and hypothermia (an hour). It said “cold water can kill you”. In the evening, the NWS came up with the second warning about the cold temperature in the lake, saying: “Beware on Lake Michigan: water is much colder than last week, and waves and currents will be dangerous for swimmers, especially near the piers!”

Waves were between three to six feet high and the NWS reminded the swimmers to "stay dry when waves are high". 

Water temperature expected to go up by this weekend

Fox 17 reported that Lake Michigan’s shoreline water temperatures were in the 70s last week but are currently in the lower to mid-60s. It, however, added that water temperatures in the lake are expected to go up by next weekend. 

“However, more of a west and eventually southwest flow will develop toward the end of the week and into the weekend. This type of wind generally blows the warmer surface water from the center and west side of the lake towards the eastern (Michigan) shoreline. As a result, water temperatures should slowly climb by the weekend,” it said.

Teen goes missing in Lake Michigan

Meanwhile, around the afternoon of August 3, divers from Chicago police and fire departments called off a search mission for a missing person near the lake’s Diversey Harbor because of the dangerous conditions there. The search started around 4 pm after a teenage boy fell into the water, CBS 2 reported. The boy was swimming with three of his friends amid the dangerous waves and could not make it to the shore even if the rest did.

The safety mechanism in Chicago’s city beaches have been hit because of the coronavirus pandemic as lifeguards are not uniformly attending their duty.