Thar she blows!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, has a dry sense of humor as befits federal agency whose name sounds the same as that of the only guy who survived a flood of Biblical proportions. But its current statement, by NOAA standards, is positively hysterical:

"Gale force," in this instance, means 40 knot winds. (One knot is 1.15 miles per hour, so 40 knots is about 46 mph.)  If you want to know what that looks like, check out the Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System: 

That's right; the forecast for Monday includes 16-foot waves on the Michigan side of the lake--a prospect exciting enough that Chicago paddlers are already arranging carpools.
Meanwhile, consider this fair warning that our days of warm surface water are numbered.