Thunderstorm!

We are presently at the City Dock in Bayfield, WI.  Midafternoon the predicted thunderstorm rolled through.  Bayfield sits on a hill and the downtown area slopes down to the waterfront and we watched the front racing down the hill.  Had everything battened down and Bruce was studying the bumpers and how the boat was pushing against the dock.  He decided to put out the big round bumpers we purchased for the locks.  Good thing he relied on that `gut’ feeling.  Lake Superior has what is called a `seiche.  A seiche is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbours and seas. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water be at least partially bounded, allowing the formation of the standing wave (taken from `Wikipedia”).  We have observed this phenomena while in the Apostles but never as dramatically as today.  With a strong northeast wind slamming us against the dock and the level raising well over a foot we found ourselves hoping it wouldn’t meet the top of the wharf.  The water level is already high on the lake and this brought us to a dangerous level at the dock.  The wind was pushing to hard to even attempt leaving for a better spot.  We stuck it out watching the water and the bumpers and it soon began to drop.  The round bumpers saved the day.