Photo Credit: Thomas Brown
Photo: A series of seiches occurred around the Bruce Peninsula on Wednesday, August 23rd, with water levels dropping well below normal and then surging well above normal. The above photo was taken around 10:00AM at Big Tub Harbour in Tobermory, when the water was at its lowest. According to Tom Brown, who took the photo, water levels changed by approximately 3-4 feet.
Typically caused by strong winds and/or rapid changes in barometric pressure, seiches are a fact of life on the Great Lakes. Minor seiches are happening constantly; they are particularly noticeable at some locations, such as Baptist Harbour near Tobermory.
Google “The Big Seiche” (or go to https://stokesbay.net/TheBigSeiche.htm) for stories about the Stokes Bay seiche of May 5, 1952 that lifted houses off their foundations, tossed fishing tugs back into the bush and had people gathering pails of still-wiggling perch off their front lawns.
