It was a long hot and dangerous summer for the Great Lakes region. So far in 2018, there have been more fatalities than there have been in the past eight years.

One hundred people have already lost their lives in the Great Lakes this year so far, and thirty-three of those were in Lake Michigan. Fifteen people drowned in August and September alone along the beaches of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. This is likely because the warm water drew more people out to the lake. The main causes of drownings were rip tides, swimming or boating with waves over three feet, and being washed off of piers and sea walls by large waves.

The number of drownings slows down a lot after September, of course because people are not at the water as much, but they do still happen. They mainly occur along piers and sea walls when the waves are big. Be aware that the threat is there, and be careful this fall, because that is when we usually see very large waves.