The south end of Lake Michigan is currently about one-half foot higher than the rest of the lake. This means there is a lot of extra water near the Chicago part of Lake Michigan.
A seiche occurred at the south end of Lake Michigan early Thursday morning. A seiche is when a large-scale wind piles the water up at one end of a Great Lake. Typically the water will pile up for several hours and then release as the wind decreases. The seiche wave often sloshes back and forth a few times over the course of a few days.
In this case the wind has continued to blow from the northeast over much of Lake Michigan. This is keeping a large amount of water piled up around the Chicago area…