Isle Royale Forums

Which websites do you guys use for your weather forecasts pretrip? I’m looking at accuweather and weather.com and both have starkly different predictions (10-20 degrees different).

What is your favorite and most accurate website?

*note on accuweather I had to search “rock harbor lodge” and on weather.com I had to search “Isle Royale Natl park”.


Also I’m hoping the bug situation is similar to last year around this time. We hardly had any mosquitos and no flies.

Sorry for any errors or typos. I’m on mobile. My login won’t work on the laptop right now.

The National Weather Service (https://www.weather.gov/) is the agency responsible for all official weather forecasts, as well as issuing weather advisories and warnings. Plus: no stinking ads or stupid click-bait to deal with. I start checking it about a week before a trip, with one final check the morning I catch the boat. It is also the forecast the NPS uses and posts at the visitor centers. As we typically stick to the western end of the island I use the forecast for Grand Marais/Grand Portage as a baseline.

After a particularly bad storm hit while we were at Feldtmann Lake in September of 2004 (winds of 65+ mph at Rock of Ages and trees snapping near our campsite) I started carrying a small NOAA weather alert radio that broadcasts continuous forecasts and warnings, just in case. Now that we have migrated over to kayaking we never travel without a marine radio, which also includes the NOAA frequencies.

Beginning about two weeks before our trip I will also consult weather.com. It has a 10 day forecast feature which is fun to monitor just to see how it daily changes as the trip date approaches.


For someone who texted me: yes, our next trip (8/5 - 8/10) is slowly eating my brain...

Agreed, the National Weather Service office out of Marquette produces the "Isle Royale Recreational Forecast" twice a day for most of the hiking season. It's the same one that is hung up at the Ranger Stations on each side of the island. By far the most 'accurate' since it's a specific, human reviewed forecast by a team that's been doing this for a while.
https://forecast.weather.gov/product.ph ... glossary=1

The forecast also comes up on the weather radio station, but I can never recall the frequency. I want to say on the 15/45s, but I could be way off.

awesome thank you so much for both your replies. I will check it out.

I usually look at the wunderground.com forecasts for Grand Marais and Copper Harbor, in addition to the official NWS. Then average them. Then guess Seriously, since it varies so much on the island and with the lake, I’m only looking for general patterns, but doesn’t affect what I bring, except for maybe a lightweight vs mid weight fleece.

That’s literally what it’s come down to for me. Which jacket ?! lol.

The marine forecast is also pretty helpful depending on where you'll be on the island...especially if you're by the lake. You have to do a lot of interpretation of it...e.g., "20-20 knot winds, high waves == windy and cold," but it's generally viewed as reliable.

NWS marine forecast: https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecast ... .KMQT.html