Beach Goers Will Find More Beach On Lake Michigan This Summer

If you plan on heading out to one of the beaches along Lake Michigan, you will find there will be more of it to enjoy this summer.

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Lake Michigan Lakeshore Erosion

Each year for the past 6 years I have been going on a family vacation with my sister, brother-in-law, our kids, and another family or two in Arcadia, Michigan. So needless to say, we have spent some serious time on a beach along the shore of Lake Michigan.

When we first started visiting the beach, there was actually a beach. You would walk down a little trail and there was plenty of beach for all to enjoy. There was plenty of room to set up a good size family in a location with plenty of room left for the kids to play in the sand and room for others and their dogs to walk by with plenty of room to spare.

It seemed each year there was less and less beach until a couple of years ago Lake Michigan's water level got so high it washed out the area everyone used to walk down to the beach. As you can see in the photo above, there was not much beach left and if you did find a spot, your chair was usually leaning forward because you were up against a hill.

After cutting new trails and making some steps in a few locations, we were able to get down to the beach last year where there was more of a beach to get on but not what we had experienced in the years before.

Lake Michigan at Lowest Level in Years

As you can see in the photo above 2022 promises to have more beach for beachgoers to enjoy this summer.

According to MLive, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are 18 inches lower than last year at this same time. This is still above the 104-year average but the lowest since 2017.

You can see that last year there was a little less than there will be this year.

In the photo above compared to the photo from 2022, you can really see the difference in beach erosion to actually having a beach in just two years' time.

Here is a video that really gives you a great perspective from an aerial perspective on how the shoreline of Lake Michigan has changed in the past couple of years.

Hopefully, this lower water level makes for a great summer for all the beaches along the shoreline of Lake Michigan and on the east side of the state along the shoreline of Lake Huron.

We have seen water levels drastically reduced out West in the United States, hopefully, this lower water level isn't a trend that continues for our Great Lakes and their future.