Special Marine Warning Issued for Lake Michigan Nearshore Waters
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on July 7, 2026, 6 weeks 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.
NWS Chicago has issued a Special Marine Warning for Lake Michigan waters from Wilmette Harbor to Michigan City until 8:15 PM CDT due to strong thunderstorms producing wind gusts of 34 knots or greater.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Lake Michigan near Chicago and Northwest Indiana
- Issued
- July 7, 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 6 weeks ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Lake Michigan near Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
Alert Details
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Chicago. The alert is effective from 6:50 PM CDT on June 11, 2026, until 8:15 PM CDT on June 11, 2026.
Affected Areas
The warning covers nearshore waters from Wilmette Harbor to Calumet Harbor, nearshore waters from Calumet Harbor to Michigan City, and open waters from Wilmette Harbor to Michigan City out to mid lake. Locations impacted 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
Small craft could be damaged in briefly higher winds and suddenly higher waves. A Tornado Watch remains in effect until 9:00 PM CDT for northeastern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, and the adjacent waters of Lake Michigan.
Expected Conditions
At 6:49 PM CDT, strong thunderstorms were located along a line extending from near 31st Street Harbor to near Orland Park to 17 nm southwest of Gary, moving northeast at 55 knots. Hazard includes wind gusts 34 knots or greater.
Timeline
The Special Marine Warning is in effect until 8:15 PM CDT on June 11, 2026.
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 (1,239 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to July 7, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.