A wind-driven weather event on Lake Erie, known as a seiche, has dropped water levels near Toledo along Lake Erie and surged levels near Buffalo, New York.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – A lake-effect snowstorm blasting powerful winds along the Great Lakes is causing a weather phenomenon known as a seiche on Lake Erie.
According to NOAA, a seiche occurs when strong winds and rapid changes in atmospheric pressure push water from one side of a lake to the other. The changes create a rolling wave that oscillates back and forth across the lake, which could last for hours or even days.
Weather watchers observed this seiche, a large standing wave, during Thursday’s lake-effect snow storm on Lake Erie.
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The screaming westerly winds, part of the third lake-effect snowstorm since the end of November, were strong enough to cause a large drop in Toledo, Ohio’s water levels on the west side of Lake Erie as the winds blew a surge of water east to the other side of the lake toward Buffalo.
On Thursday, NOAA water gauges showed water levels were down in Toledo by about 5 feet and up by 10 feet in Buffalo.
(FOX Weather)
Video taken by Storm Watch Lake Erie, taken from Ontario, Canada looking toward Buffalo, shows the large, standing wave moving across the lake.
According to NOAA, Lake Erie is known for seiches created by strong southwest winds.
These wave events are generally not hazardous but can be. In 1844, a 22-foot wave part of a seiche event breached a 14-foot sea wall and killed 78 people. The event also caused an ice blockage at Niagara Falls, temporarily stopping the waterfall.