Lake Superior Overlook Wayside

A Truly Superior Lake Wayside at Lake Superior Overlook

A Truly Superior Lake

Lake Superior is one of Earth’s natural wonders. By surface area, Lake Superior is the largest Freshwater lake on the planet, covering 31,700 square miles. To the native Ojibwe people it is Gitchigami, the “Big Sea” or “Huge Water”. French Newcomers gave it the name Lac Superieur or “Upper Lake”.

Despite its name, Lake Superior acts more like an inland sea than a freshwater lake. It creates its own weather and climate and has an insulating effect on coastal areas. Storms, humidity, cloud cover, and wind generated by Lake Superior impact every park ecosystem.

Does Lake Superior have tides?

Lake Superior is classified as “non-tidal” by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association – its cyclic fluctuations are not significant enough to be considered tides. However, Lake Superior does experience seiches. Seiches are like water sloshing around in a bathtub. When one side of the lake experiences a storm or change in atmospheric pressure, water levels in other areas of the lake are affected.

“Lake Superior possesses all the sublimity of the ocean. In gazing upon its surface, whether stretched out like a vast mirror, reflecting the varying tints of the sky, or ruffled by gently-curling waves, or lashed by the fury of the storm, the beholder is alike impressed with a feeling of the grand and the infinite.” – J.W. Foster and J.D. Whitney, geology expedition, 1850

Superior Facts

31,700 square miles of surface area; approximately the size of South Carolina. (82,100 square km)
350 miles from east to west; approximately the distance from Indianapolis to Philadelphia. (563 km)
160 miles from north to south; approximately the distance from Ann Arbor to Columbus. (258 km)
483 feet average depth; taller than the Statue of Liberty. (147 m)
1,332 feet maximum depth; taller than the Empire State Building. (406 m)
40 degrees Fahrenheit average temperature. (4.4 degrees Celsius)
3,000,000,000,000,000 gallons; enough to cover all of North and South America with one foot (30 cm) of water.