Ohio Street, August 23

Last weekend we tried to swim in Evanston but it was too cold. Through the grapevine we heard that Ohio street was nice and warm. For that reason and also because we thought it might be too wavy in unprotected Evanston we went to Ohio Street. It appears that the cold water has simply been moving south at a couple of miles a day and finally got to Ohio street. We, Joe and I, were very disappointed but not surprised, however there were a lot of surprised triathaletes getting in some last minute practice. We watched various other non-wetsuited swimmers get in the water, swim 5 to 10 strokes and get out. The water was 57. There were also 1 to 2 foot breaking waves on the beach, but behind them it was just choppy, as would be expected at that location. We decided to not bother. I drove Joe back to our hot indoor pool for his swim and I just went home and had breakfast.

For the record probably the most accurate water temperature measurement, besides my own, is the once a day measurment you can get in text form from the Chicago office of the national weather service. Go directly to
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=marine then scroll down to "Southern Lake Michigan water temperatures".
The announced temperature for "Chicago Shore" at 9AM today was 59 which is not too far off of my reading of 57 at 7:30.

This is the first time I have been to Ohio street this year and I am happy to report, that on Sunday with no events in the Loop, parking was pretty easy thanks to the new meters. And they don't even charge before 8AM.