Terrifying footage shows what it would be like on Lake Michigan in yesterday’s massive 17-foot waves

The weekend storm system had strong enough winds over Lake Michigan to get the lake really rocking with large waves. A camera mounted on a buoy in Lake Michigan shows us what it would be like out on a very rough Lake Michigan.

The highest waves on southern Lake Michigan occurred around noon yesterday, October 19. Winds blew from the northwest for several hours. The northwest wind direction makes waves get large over Michigan’s side of southern Lake Michigan.

The wave heights graph below shows how the wave heights jumped to nearly 17 feet around noon yesterday, October 19, 2025.

Wave heights at the Cook Nuclear Plant along the southwest shore of Lake Michigan on October 19, 2025LimnoTech

Here is the video from the camera mounted on the buoy. This video was gathered at 9 a.m., before the waves increased to 17 feet.

Then the winds picked up to 30 mph with gusts over 40 mph. The northwest wind builds the wave heights along the Lake Michigan shoreline at southwest Michigan. Here’s the video at the time of measured 16.9 foot waves.

Could you just imagine being on a boat, or even a large car ferry crossing Lake Michigan in those waves? It would be life-threatening and very scary.

It’s great to watch from on land. Here is the complete LimnoTech buoy network and buoy cameras.

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