Lake conditions

[Huntin' Trout]

I'm looking for some help gauging Lake 'O conditions. I'm familiar with th e Finger Lakes however we are moving to Sodus this year.

What is the best tool or media outlet to determine lake conditions?

What are the "rule of thumbs" for the wind vs. wave size?

[King Slammin]

noaa weather radio

[bandrus1]

I'm looking for some help gauging Lake 'O conditions. I'm familiar with th e Finger Lakes however we are moving to Sodus this year.

What is the best tool or media outlet to determine lake conditions?

What are the "rule of thumbs" for the wind vs. wave size?

rules of thumb depend on your boat size but in general south wind you can take higher speeds than north or east

[Pike Hunter]

Join in as a PRO member and you will have quick access to the information on the sidebar. I check all of these reports each time before I head out. It is the best $20 I spent on fishing.

[Mortigan]

I've read the rule of thumb is roughly 1 foot for each 5 mph of wind. Can't tell you how often I've read 1 to 3 foot waves and found 3 to 5 instead. If you pay to join this site, you'll get most of this stuff on listed on the left of your screen:

Coastwatch surface temps: http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/ontario/

NOAA maps (downloadable .gpx): http://marine.geogarage.com/routes

NOAA maps (ordering): http://www.oceangrafix.com/o.g/Charts/G ... harts.html

Sailflow wind forecasts: http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iw ... meoffset=0

NOAA wind forecasts: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glc ... pe=N&hr=-1

Weather: http://www.wunderground.com/q/zmw:14551.1.99999

[Huntin' Trout]

Excellent responses and resources!!

[lrg355]

My favorite tool while driving is the National Dial a Bouy at 1-888-701-8892 and enter bouy 45012. That location is slightly northeast of Rochester and it will give you all the wave data within about 50 minutes ago.

[Mortigan]

I'll check that one online sometimes but it hasn't been put back in the lake yet: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45012

[reeleyz]

Sail flow (mentioned above) is great. They have an app for the iPhone called Wind Alert that lets you search for weather stations and view the current wind conditions and the predicted wind for the next few days. It is at least as accurate as NOAA.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[W.W.IV.]

If your going to live close to the lake drive down and take a look,but check the reports to make sure a change isn't on the way.

[Chas0218]

I generally use the NOAA site. Most of the time if it is out of the S, SW, SE your golden. Out of the N, NE, and NW your not going on the lake anytime soon. Out of the E, or W all is determined on the wind speed anything over 15mph is usually on the rough side (depending on the boat.) I like using www.intellicast.com and just punch in sodus point NY and it comes up with the forecast for the bay.

[jonboat]

Here's another good one from the noaa:

http://forecast.weather.gov/gridpoint.php?site=buf

click a spot on the little map to get a point forecast.

I can't seem to find how I got it, but you can also get the noaa/nws digital forcast as a kml file that is used by google earth. Works great, pulling up the most recent forecast.

[Ray]

I like this...

http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/bufMarineWeek.php

[tcon]

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=31201#p183353 <--------------------This is one of the best explanations I have heard about the lake yet. We were there today, took the day off as a matter of fact. Weather called for wind out of the east changing to south at 6-10mph waves 1 foot or less and when we left the wind was blowing a steady 10 - 15 out of the NE and waves were 3 to 4 building to 5 ft. at 12:30 when we left

Tom