As residents on the East Coast prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, the National Weather Service is warning of high waves and winds on Lake Michigan as well.
The service has issued a gale watch in effect Monday night through Tuesday. The watch will be in effect for a stretch of the lake that starts in Sheboygan, WI, goes through Illinois and Indiana, and ends up at South Haven, MI.
The affected area will be from 5 nautical miles from the shoreline to about the middle of the lake, the weather service said.
Winds up to 60 mph are expected along the lakeshore from late Monday through Tuesday evening, according to the National Weather Service. This will cause waves up to 22 feet along the Cook County shoreline.
A lakeshore flood watch is also in effect through Monday night in that area, according to the Chicago Tribune. The weather service reports that, "these large waves will batter the beaches and shorelines leading to coastal erosion and flooding and could result in similar impacts to the storm of September 2011."
The hurricane's arrival is also having an effect on the area's temperatures, the Chicago Tribune says, keeping the cooler weather around. The high is expected near 50 on Monday and Tuesday.