Special Marine Warning Issued for Lake Michigan Nearshore Waters
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on August 16, 2026, 7 days 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 nearshore and open waters of Lake Michigan from Wilmette Harbor to Michigan City until 2:45 AM 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 Illinois and Indiana
- Issued
- August 16, 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 7 days ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Lake Michigan near Illinois and Indiana.
Alert Details
Special Marine Warning issued by NWS Chicago IL. Effective from 12:44 AM CDT August 16, 2026 until 2:45 AM CDT August 16, 2026. Severity: Severe. Urgency: Immediate. Certainty: Likely.
Affected Areas
Nearshore Waters from Wilmette Harbor to Calumet Harbor IL; Nearshore Waters from Calumet Harbor to Michigan City IN; 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
Move to safe harbor immediately as gusty winds and high waves are expected. Small craft could be damaged in briefly higher winds and suddenly higher waves.
Expected Conditions
Strong thunderstorms with a leading outflow boundary moving east at 35 knots. Hazard: Wind gusts 34 knots or greater.
Timeline
Alert in effect from 12:44 AM CDT until 2:45 AM CDT on August 16, 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 (1,047 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to August 16, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.