Special Marine Warning Issued for Lake Michigan Offshore Areas
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on August 9, 2026, 2 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 Milwaukee/Sullivan has issued a Special Marine Warning for Lake Michigan from Sheboygan WI to Winthrop Harbor IL due to severe thunderstorms capable of producing waterspouts.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Lake Michigan offshore Wisconsin and Illinois
- Issued
- August 9, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan WI
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 2 weeks ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Lake Michigan offshore Wisconsin and Illinois.
Alert Details
Special Marine Warning issued by NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan WI. Effective from 12:19 PM CDT August 9, 2026 until 1:45 PM CDT August 9, 2026. Severity: Severe. Urgency: Immediate. Certainty: Likely.
Affected Areas
Lake Michigan from Sheboygan to Port Washington WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake; Lake Michigan from Port Washington to North Point Light WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake; Lake Michigan from North Point Light to Wind Point WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake; Lake Michigan from Wind Point WI to Winthrop Harbor IL 5NM offshore to Mid Lake.
What You Should Do
Seek safe harbor immediately. Thunderstorms can produce sudden waterspouts. Waterspouts can easily overturn boats and create locally hazardous seas. If caught on the open water stay below deck if possible, keep away from ungrounded metal objects.
Expected Conditions
Severe thunderstorms capable of producing waterspouts. Hazards include waterspouts, wind gusts to 40 knots, and small hail. Storms located along a line extending from 18 nm east of Port Washington to 7 nm east of Winthrop Harbor, moving east at 30 knots.
Timeline
Alert effective August 9, 2026 at 12:19 PM CDT and expires August 9, 2026 at 1:45 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 (1,204 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to August 9, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.