The storm that struck Chicago on Halloween played quite a trick on this already freaky holiday. Waves on Lake Michigan reached 20 feet at buoy 45007 off Milwaukee–which means they were probably two feet higher off Chicago–and winds at the Harrison crib in Chicago topped 60 knots (that’s almost 70 miles per hour).
We had to go downtown to see the mayhem.
Windy, wavy Halloween from Sharon and Alec Bloyd-Peshkin on Vimeo.
We were pummeled by small hail pellets as we trudged through Olive Park. Storm surge swamped the nearby stretch of Lake Shore Drive; tree branches and debris were everywhere. Out on the Pier, tour boat crews struggled to secure their vessels and keep them from crashing into the walls. The haunted barge had broken loose and was thrashing up and down in a fashion far spookier than its creators intended. Cheerful posters about the sunny future of the Pier lay splintered on the ground.
It was a great evening to watch the water from the safety of land, and to plan a paddle for the following morning, when the winds would be down below 30 knots, the waves would be in the five to 10-foot range, and the danger would be past.
