Squallowing – Summer of Change

by Tim Dyer
I have witnessed many changes in Bay weather these past few years, and this one goes down in the books as a particularly wild one. Our melting polar ice is causing more waves in the jet stream resulting in a vigorous mixing of air masses than we normally get. On the water, it means stronger, faster changes in wind and rain events.

So why am I telling you this? It gives all of us more reason to avoid long-term weather forecasting, and be willing to make decisions in the field about our route planning. It’s a bit of a black art, with a good dollup of bullshit mixed in, but that’s what makes outdoor travel so fun. Makes you feel alive in the world!

If you can access it through your phone, local radar maps are sure handy. They give real-time images of storm cells allowing you to pull off if one is nearby. Better yet – keep a weather log and try to predict by watching cloud motion and wind. You’ll never get it right, as the sea of air above is at best a thin veil of chaos. To illustrate, try looking out on a lake on a windy day and pick out what’s happening with the surface of the water – then imagine what’s going on underneath the waves on the lake. That cauldron of motion is exactly what’s happening far up in the air above the lake –both dutifully following laws of fluid mechanics – and it’s pretty daunting to figure it out.

Observation, log-keeping and changing your guesses based on experience over time is all you can do. Keep your ego hung out on the clothesline and understand you are a speck in the waterscape trying to make sense out of something ultimately unfathomable. Some may say Tim’s exaggerating again, but did you ever notice meteorologists are really good at telling us what happened? They ain’t so great at telling us what’s coming!

It’s a magical mystery tour every time you paddle … so don’t sit at home and stare at a screen – just go! From the cheap seats of Carling Township, nestled in the mixing bowl of the Great Lakes basin. May the wind be always at your back – and if it isn’t – maybe it’ll be in your face and that’s ok too!

– til next time – Tim

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