Great Lakes Pose Rip Current Dangers to 4th of July Swimmers

If you’re heading to Lake Michigan or any of the other Great Lakes for the 4th of July, prepare yourself for rip currents.

Hot temperatures and wind can combine to make the currents along the coastlines deadly, according to The Detroit News. Several popular vacation destinations — including Manistee, St. Joseph and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — are using a flag system to warn beach visitors of dangerous rip currents caused by the winds.

When the flags are green, go swimming, but watch for conditions; swim with caution when they’re yellow; and when they’re red, stay out of the water.

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“The shoreline changes daily,” Dave Bachman, director of public safety for the city of Manistee, told the newspaper. “Currents along our beaches can become very dangerous.”

The National Weather Service regularly updates Great Lakes Beach Hazard Statements that show current conditions and warnings. Currently, the risk for swimming is rated as high along the lower half of both the east and west shorelines of Lake Michigan and moderate to high along much of Lake Huron.

Panicked swimmers often try to counter a rip current by swimming straight back to shore — putting themselves at risk of drowning because of fatigue. Rip currents are among the strongest currents in the lakes, and tens of thousands of swimmers are rescued from rip currents every year.

If you are caught in a rip current, don’t try to fight it, NOAA recommends. Instead, swim parallel to the shore and swim back to land at an angle.

Also, water levels are higher, meaning the lake bottom near the shore may not be where it was on your last vacation.

By the end of the summer, the lake level could approach a 1986 record high, according to experts with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor. In January 2013, the lake was at a record low, but it has risen 4 feet since then.

Image: Engledow Jenni via Flickr / licensed by Creative Commons