Marine Strong Wind — Vermilion To Avon Point Oh, Lake Erie

2022-11-05 · near Avon Point, Vermilion To Avon Point Oh, Lake Erie

Event narrative

FOX 8 Cleveland reported a 30-year old male kayaker went missing just offshore Miller Road Park in Avon Lake around 2 PM EDT. Location is estimated. He was wearing a life jacket. The Huron Light C-MAN Station (HHLO1) was the nearest weather station reporting observations at the time of the incident. The reported gust at 2 PM EDT was used as an estimate. On December 10th, 2022, the man's kayak was found along the Lake Erie shore in Fort Erie, Ontario.

Wider weather episode

A deepening and occluded surface low moved north-northeastward from eastern Iowa to northern Wisconsin during the late morning through early evening of the 5th. This low interacted with a strong surface high pressure ridge to its east, which lead to a tight mean sea-level pressure gradient across Lake Erie and vicinity, including northern Ohio. The tight pressure gradient and diurnal convective mixing of the boundary layer over land, tapping into stronger flow aloft, resulted in southerly to south-southwesterly surface wind gusts as strong as 30 to 40 knots in northern Ohio and over adjacent waters of Lake Erie. Unfortunately a kayaker ventured onto Lake Erie and perished while encountering the gusty winds and sizable waves. A Small Craft Advisory was in effect.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.5100, -82.0600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1060174. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.