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12 kn+. A kite day has at least 3 hours of 12 to 35 knots between 10:00 and 19:00. How we count.

Lake · Illinois · United States

Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach

Kite days peak in April at 34 %.

A kite day has at least 3 hours of 12 to 35 knots (gusts up to 45) between 10:00 and 19:00, in daylight. Percentages are the share of such days in each month, counted over 9 years.

  1. J18
  2. F22
  3. M27
  4. A34
  5. M19
  6. J17
  7. J7
  8. A8
  9. S11
  10. O24
  11. N23
  12. D19
Kite days by month at Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach: Jan 18 %, Feb 22 %, Mar 27 %, Apr 34 %, May 19 %, Jun 17 %, Jul 7 %, Aug 8 %, Sep 11 %, Oct 24 %, Nov 23 %, Dec 19 %
  • Prime 60 % and more
  • Good 40 to 59 %
  • Possible 20 to 39 %
  • Off under 20 %
  • No data hatched
  • Ringed: this month

Prime also needs a good month in at least 7 of the 9 years, so one freak year cannot make a month Prime. A month with 60 %+ but fewer good years shows as Good.

Confidence lowLake or river spot: global weather models underestimate local thermal winds here.

Live forecastShow on map

Month by month

MonthKite days% of days, verdictGood yearsof 0, reached 50 %
  • Kite days
    24 % Possibleabout 7 of 31 days
    Too light, kiteable, too strong
    • Too light 76 %
    • Kiteable 24 %
    • Too strong 0 %
    Best hours
    12:00 to 16:00when the wind is most often 12 to 35 knots
    Daylight
    11.1 h
    Air
    16 °Cdaily maximum, 15 °C during kite hours
    Rain
    11 of 31with 1 mm or more
    In one sentence

    In October, Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach averaged 7 kite days out of 31 (24 %).

Good years are not shown here: this spot has no complete per year values, because the two models drift apart over the years. Trip odds are hidden here: at low confidence the model does not see this spot's wind well enough to count on. Best hours: the hours from 10:00 on when the wind most often reaches 12 to 35 knots. Rain day: 1 mm or more of rain.

Source: ECMWF IFS 9 km via Open-Meteo, hourly model wind, 2017 to 2025; water temperature 2023 to 2025. How we count kite days and trip odds

Trip odds at Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach

Trip odds are hidden here: at low confidence the model does not see this spot's wind well enough to count on.

How the wind behaves

In April, the windiest month

  • Too light 66 %
  • Kiteable 34 %
  • Too strong 0 %

Too light on 66 %, kiteable on 34 %, too strong on 0 % of days.

Best hours: 13:00 to 17:00, when the wind is most often 12 to 35 knots.

NESW

Share of kite days by wind direction, 16 sectors

Wind direction varies, most often SW (225°).

Kitesurfing at Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach: quick answers

When is the best time to kitesurf at Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach?

No month reaches 50 % kite days. The windiest month is April, when 34 % of days were kite days from 2017 to 2025.

Is Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach windy in October?

Sometimes. 24 % of days in October were kite days from 2017 to 2025, about 7 days in a typical October.

How many kite days does Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach get in a year?

About 70 days a year were kite days from 2017 to 2025, out of 365. A kite day has at least 3 hours of 12 to 35 kn model wind between 10:00 and 19:00 in daylight, with gusts up to 45 kn.

Live forecast

The numbers above are long term averages. The forecast shows the next days.

Live forecast from Windy

The forecast map for Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach comes from windy.com (Windyty SE, Prague, Czech Republic) and opens right here on this page. Once you load it, your browser contacts Windy, which receives your IP address and may set its own cookies. Nothing is loaded before you click.

Spot facts

Region
Illinois
Country
United States
Water body
Lake, from Natural Earth map data
Nearest airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), 44 km straight line. Flights are not sold here; this is for planning only.
Time zone
UTC-05:00 in October
Coordinates
42.3676, -87.8134
Model
ECMWF IFS 9 km via Open-Meteo, hourly
Satellite view of Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach

Conditions, checked against kite guides

Water state, flat areas, waves and whether schools teach here, from kite sources, not from satellite images.

Not yet checked against kite guides. We research spot conditions one by one and show only what a kite source says.

Plan your trip

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One mail, about 8 weeks before your month starts, with the kite day odds for that month and the link to this page. No newsletter.

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kiteCOMPASS · method k3h-10to19-v1 · 2017 to 2025

Model wind: ECMWF IFS 9 km via Open-Meteo, hourly, 2017 to 2025. Water temperature: 2023 to 2025. Kite day: at least 3 hours of 12 to 35 kn model wind between 10:00 and 19:00 in daylight, with gusts up to 45 kn. Confidence: low.

Cite this

In October, 24 % of days at Lake Michigan / Waukegan Beach met the kiteCOMPASS kite day rule: at least 3 hours of 12 to 35 kn model wind between 10:00 and 19:00 in daylight, with gusts up to 45 kn (ECMWF IFS 9 km via Open-Meteo, hourly, 2017 to 2025). https://kitecompass.app/spot/lake-michigan-waukegan-beach

Numbers on this page are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: name kiteCOMPASS and link to this page.