Contact:

Roy Widrig, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist, E: rlw294@cornell.edu, P: (315) 234-1916

Angola, NY, October 24, 2024 - On Thursday, October 17th New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) hosted 48 Lake Erie shoreline in Erie and Chautauqua residents for a "Seiche and Winter Preparedness" information session at the Lake Erie Beach Fire Hall in Angola, NY. 

The evening was highlighted by a "Lake Erie Seiche" presentation by Judy Levan, Meteorologist (Retired) with the National Weather Service in Buffalo. 

NYSG Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist Roy Widrig presented "Weathering Seiche", with examples of shoreline protection methods allowed within New York State. 

NYSDEC Engineer Shaimus Ryan also presented on Coastal Erosion Hazard Area permitting across DEC Region 9. 


More Info: Seiche and Shoreline Preparedness

• During seiche events on Lake Erie, wind “piles up” water on the lake’s eastern shore from Pennsylvania to Buffalo, while water levels near Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio, are pulled down. 

• The November 1, 2019 seiche event on Lake Erie caused 12-foot waves, widespread flooding and coastal erosion along the northwest Pennsylvania and southwestern New York shorelines.

• In October 1844, a 22-foot seiche breached the 14-foot seawall at Buffalo; 78 people drowned in that event. 

• In March 1848, seiche-induced ice damming in the Niagara River caused Niagara Falls to stop flowing for almost 30 hours. 


Five of the Top 10 recorded Lake Erie seiches near Buffalo have occurred since 2019. Here, a seiche wave impacts a building in Buffalo, NY. Credit: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes with its west-east positioning, is conducive to the development of seiches – standing waves that impact the western New York shoreline with significant force. Seiche events have become more common on Lake Erie with decreased winter ice conditions and more severe wind events during the winter season.

NYSG's Widrig is the co-author of a “Seiche Events on Lake Erie” Fact Sheet.

Additionally, Widrig offers free virtual and in-person assistance (upon request) with evaluating a waterfront area for erosion problems. Property owners and managers of shoreline areas along New York’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River shoreline may request this assistance via NYSG's Virtual Site Visit Portal at www.nyseagrant.org/glcoastalvirtualsitevisit.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.