Big blow on Lake Superior

Today the National Weather Service issued the following bulletin for western Lake Superior (bolding mine):

LAKE SUPERIOR FROM SAXON HARBOR WI TO UPPER ENTRANCE TO PORTAGE
CANAL MI 5NM OFF SHORE TO THE US/CANADIAN BORDER INCLUDING ISLE
ROYALE NATIONAL PARK-
LAKE SUPERIOR FROM UPPER ENTRANCE TO PORTAGE CANAL TO MANITOU
ISLAND MI 5NM OFF SHORE TO THE US/CANADIAN BORDER-
416 AM EDT WED OCT 27 2010
...STORM WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT...
.EARLY THIS MORNING...SOUTHWEST STORM FORCE WINDS TO 60 KNOTS.
RAIN SHOWERS. WAVES 20 TO 25 FEET.
.TODAY...SOUTHWEST STORM FORCE WINDS TO 55 KNOTS DIMINISHING TO 50
KNOTS IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN SHOWERS. WAVES SUBSIDING TO 15 TO 20
FEET.
.TONIGHT...WEST STORM FORCE WINDS TO 50 KNOTS VEERING TO NORTHWEST
GALES TO 45 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS THROUGH
MIDNIGHT...THEN RAIN SHOWERS LIKELY. WAVES SUBSIDING TO 10 TO 14
FEET.
.THURSDAY...NORTHWEST GALES TO 40 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF RAIN
SHOWERS. WAVES BUILDING TO 12 TO 17 FEET...THEN SUBSIDING TO
10 TO 14 FEET.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...NORTHWEST WINDS 20 TO 30 KNOTS BECOMING WEST
15 TO 25 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS.
WAVES SUBSIDING TO 6 TO 9 FEET.
.FRIDAY...WEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. WAVES SUBSIDING TO 3 TO
5 FEET.
.FRIDAY NIGHT...WEST WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHWEST 5 TO
15 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. WAVES SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 4 FEET.
.SATURDAY...NORTH WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHEAST 10 TO
20 KNOTS. WAVES SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FEET.
.SUNDAY...NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS. WAVES SUBSIDING TO CALM
TO 2 FEET...THEN BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FEET.
$$

Of course the highest waves will be five nautical miles offshore, but the ones inshore will be humdingers, too. Inasmuch as the Writer's Lair, pictured below, lies only 20 feet from the lake, we'll be holding our breaths that it -- and the new rock riprap we had installed between the cabin and the edge of the water last summer -- make it through the storm unscathed.

OCT. 28: Friends who live a little way west of the cabin paid a visit after the storm and reported all was fine except for a red squirrel looking for (and, I hope, failing to find) a way into the cabin. Since the 60-knot wind was out of the southwest, the southern shore of the lake saw only 4- to 6-foot waves while the Slate Islands on the Canadian side were buffeted by 28-foot monsters.