Special Marine Warning for Lake Michigan Areas
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 15, 2026, 4 months ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this NWS weather alert directly from NOAA's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
A Special Marine Warning has been issued for parts of Lake Michigan due to severe thunderstorms capable of producing waterspouts and wind gusts up to 50 knots, effective immediately until 11:30 PM CDT.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Lake Michigan Region
- Issued
- April 15, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Chicago IL
Marine notices apply to named waters or shoreline zones. They may not describe conditions on land, even when the nearest place name is the same.
Record status: historical. It was issued 4 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Lake Michigan Region.
Special Marine Warning in Lake Michigan
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a Special Marine Warning. This alert is from NOAA and is categorized as a severe event with code MAW.
Affected Areas
The warning affects Wilmette Harbor to Northerly Island IL; Northerly Island to Calumet Harbor IL; Calumet Harbor IL to Gary IN; Gary to Burns Harbor IN; Burns Harbor to Michigan City IN; and Lake Michigan from Wilmette Harbor to Michigan City in 5NM offshore to Mid Lake. Specific locations include Harrison-Dever Crib, Wilmette Harbor, 31st Street Harbor, Monroe Harbor, Burns Harbor, Calumet Harbor, Indiana Harbor, Montrose Harbor, Burnham Harbor, Hammond Marina, Jackson Park Harbor, and Belmont Harbor.
What You Should Do
Residents and boaters in the affected areas should avoid the water due to the immediate threat. A Tornado Watch remains in effect until midnight CDT for northeastern Illinois and the adjacent waters of Lake Michigan.
Expected Conditions
Hazards include waterspouts and wind gusts to nearly 50 knots from severe thunderstorms. These conditions can overturn boats and create locally hazardous seas with higher winds and waves.
Timeline
The alert is effective from April 14, 2026, at 9:33 PM CDT and expires on April 14, 2026, at 11:30 PM CDT.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
Related Weather Alerts
All Weather Alerts →Nationwide notices with similar length or severity timing 8
Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this NWS weather alert: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
Nearest notices by article body length (1,312 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 15, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.