Lake Wave Forecasts Help

This page will explain how to use the Lake Wave Forecasts Page.

Three lakes are covered by our Lake Wave Forecasts Page: Devils Lake, the Upper and Lower Red Lakes, and Lake of the Woods. The forecasts cover both the wind (speed and direction) and wave height. There are two sections of the Lake Wave Forecast Page:

The text discussion which is near the top of the page
The graphical maps which are near the bottom of the page. These maps can be clicked on to get a series of forecasts every 3 hours for the next 2 days. The numbers and colors on the maps correspond to the wave height and each page has an explanation for the wind barbs if you are not familiar with them.

While we only make these forecasts for the larger lakes you can apply the forecasts to nearby lakes as well. A high wave day on the larger lakes means the potential for higher waves on the smaller lakes. Smaller lakes will be more sheltered with less fetch so the waves will not be as high as the larger lakes.

Notice: Wave height forecasts represent the average of the highest one-third (33%) of waves (measured from trough to crest) that occur in a given period. Since the Significant Wave Height is an average of the largest waves, mariners should be aware that many individual waves will probably be higher.