Great Lakes water temperatures in late November
ACSPO SSTs from VIIRS on NOAA-20, 28 November (1728 and 1911 UTC) and 29 November (0727 UTC). Click to enlarge
Clear skies over most of the five Great Lakes on 28-29 November allowed the VIIRS instrument on NOAA-20 to gather information for Advanced Clear-Sky Processing for Ocean (ACSPO) Sea Surface Temperatures. The animation above shows two afternoon images (from 28 November 2020, at 1728 UTC and 1911 UTC) and one morning image (from 29 November 2020 at 0727 UTC). The color enhancement shows values from 35ºF to 55ºF.
Lake Erie shows the warmest temperatures, just over 50ºF in the eastern part of the Lake. High Pressure over the Ohio River valley on 28 November (2100 UTC analysis) meant light winds over Lake Erie. The lack of wind-induced mixing allowed for warming (a few degrees F between 1728 and 1911 UTC) of the surface skin of the lake. Lake Superior shows temperatures around 40º F (albeit a bit warmer along just off the Upper Peninsula of Michigan); Lakes Michigan and Huron, western Lake Michigan and northwest Lake Ontario show temperatures in the mid-40s. Eastern Lake Ontario shows temperatures in the upper-40s.
Note: You can compare these observations to previous years here, for Lake Michigan. (Links to comparisons at other lakes are at that link as well). Thanks to the Blog Reader for this link!