Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No boats in the water? Don't know where you were, but the PNW has a very high % of boat owners. I think the stat used to be that there were enough boats registered in Seattle that if you had to evacuate the entire city it would be 4 people per boat.
Here in Oregon, the mountain lakes are jammed in the summer with boaters and swimmers. Sure the ocean is cold - to the point of requiring a wetsuit to surf - but the lakes (other than Crater Lake) warm up in summer.
Yes the lakes are warmer than the ocean, but if the average daytime high in July is 75 then the water likely isn't going to be any warmer than that, given the fact that the low temps offset the high temps, even if sunlight can increase temps to higher than ambient air temps. So even if the water were 70-75 degrees that would be pretty chilly for most swimmers.
In the Midwest when the average high temps aren't higher than 75-80 degrees the pools/lakes aren't open/guarded.
Lake Superior is not usually a safe lake to swim in.
I've been swimming in Lake Superior several times over the last few years. It's usually only comfortable in you're in a harbor (shallows) and it's a hot day, but people do in fact swim in it. This beach north of Marquette is great - shallow harbor, few people, tons of sand, an island to walk over to (and small cliffs to dive) and the Huron Mtns as a back-drop:
Spend most of a day in this water when it was in the 90s a couple summers ago.
Lake Superior, I don't know if swimming is the right term, but it's fun in the summer to run in and flap around for 10 minutes before your lips turn blue and you go running back to the campfire to warm back up!
The waters off PNW plus Alaska are pretty cold in the summer.
People die in Puget Sound every year from hyopthermia in the middle of the summer. You can also die in the middle of Lake Washington.
You did read the part where I was referring to Eastern WA, right? It's a different climate on this side of the state. We have hotter summers, and the lakes and rivers warm up just enough to be comfortable to swim in during late summer. I've already been swimming several times in the lakes up here in the last few weeks. Yes, the ocean and the sound maintain a year-round cold temp, as I pointed out... but during my time living in Seattle I knew more than a few people who had outdoor swimming pools with adjustable thermostats. Granted, that's a privilege of higher income and not the norm... but it's not ruled out.
If you want to swim in one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is the shallowest and therefore the warmest. However, northeast Ohio is generally too cold for outdoor swimming. The average July high is only 82 degrees. One summer, July averaged 78 degrees, which was really pleasant.
I'd say Alaska, and from about Washington State down to just north of Santa Barbara on the West Coast, and just north of Massachusetts on the East Coast. Places like SoCal or Cape Cod don't have the warmest water, but it is swimmable on a warm or hot summer day.
Actually, San Diegois seeing warmer-than-normal ocean temps now at 75F!!
Montana. Most of the lakes and rivers are fed by snow and glacier melt. Even in the hottest part of July, the water temp is just barely above freezing. Beautiful, but numbing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
