When we are this close to the Summer solstice with the sun rising at 5:14am, I normally rely on a much more crisp June lake to wake me up after a night of compromised sleep. But also, it was not meant to be yesterday morning!
I got out to L1 just past 5:00am, and the lake was choppy with some smaller but increasing swells. So I wasn’t able to get an initial surface temperature reading. But a quick “hand and foot” test told me that something was drastically different as the water didn’t seem anywhere near as bracing as it was the last week. I figured that this was just the surface – i.e. there would almost certainly be a nice, biting thermocline to contend with once I get in the lake. But given that the lake was very agitated, I doubted that this would be the case. So I threw caution to the wind and went in with just my jammers and goggles (i.e. no cap).
My assumptions were correct – the lake temperature came in at just above 74F all throughout the swim. I even took several dives down to the bottom to check if there were any variances. But the thermometer read 74F at every level!
I ended up doing a 1/2 mile like last week, but this time involved a large loop with a turnaround at the 1/4 mile point. Truth be told, I preferred to just stay in the lake and play around in the big “pool area” between the shoreline and the buoys 1/4 mile out. And even though the swells had picked up, they weren’t really bothersome since the lake was so warm!
So I hope you wall were able to get out on Sunday and sample a very rare event. I can tell you from experience that this is unseasonably high, and the Chicago lakefront is sure to regress to the mean any day now. And to be honest, I’ll be just as happy when it does!
Great report and equally great photos. I swim in Evanston and it was unseasonably warm here as well — 74 on Sunday and 73 on Monday. Uncanny! It was 55 just a month ago!