As Western New York prepares for the cold winds of winter, New York Sea Grant and local groups are trying to prepare residents for seiche events, with massive waves that can cause major damage.
Seiche events are of primary concern from November through mid-January, and they can last more than eight hours.
They occur when cold winds moving east push water to the shoreline, barraging the shores south of Buffalo with waves that can be more than 12 feet high, said Roy Widrig, Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist for New York Sea Grant.
“What we see south of Buffalo is a bunch of businesses and mostly residential properties along the shoreline ... They're the ones that are going to be most affected by it," he said. "Lake Erie is really shallow, especially in its eastern basin, and that's kind of why we see, the waves are much more intense because of that, because it is shallow by the shoreline.”
People near the shore of Lake Erie should board windows, remove moveable objects, and stay away from the water’s edge, Widrig said.
“If they're big enough, they're going to wash up, and they're going to be able to take people off the shoreline, because there's that much water that's happening," he said. "Especially in the winter, if it's icy and you don't really have that, that grip to, you know, help yourself if something like that happens, so that they are not they're not to be messed with.”
New York Sea Grant will host an informational event with local groups tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Lake Erie Beach Volunteer Fire Hall in Angola.
