Wind-driven waves pound Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline

Gusty winds out of the southeast have stirred up big waves and prompted a flood advisory along Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline from northern Door County to the Milwaukee-Racine county line through Monday evening.

Just after noon on Monday, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport reported a wind gust of 52 mph. 

The National Weather Service has issued a lakeshore flood advisory until 10 p.m. on Monday.  Waves were expected to build to 8 to 12 feet along the lake shore by early afternoon.

Meanwhile, the weather service has issued a wind advisory for Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties until 2 p.m. 

Southeast winds blowing at 20 to 25 mph could gust to 40 to 50 mph, according to the weather service.

"The winds are starting to pick up right now," said Taylor Patterson, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Sullivan. 

Water levels in Lake Michigan are historically high, raising concerns about potential shoreline erosion and flooding.

"Minor flooding of beaches, along with roads and structures in low lying areas near the lakeshore, are possible," according to a statement from the weather service. "The high waves may cause bluff erosion along Lake Michigan."

The lakeshore flood advisory is in effect for Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Kewaunee and Door counties. 

Meanwhile, We Energies was reporting about 10,000 customers without power on Monday afternoon, with most of the outages being reported in Milwaukee County.

Forecasters expect the strongest winds and highest waves will occur between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday.

Contact Joe Taschler at (414) 224-2554 or jtaschler@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeTaschler or Facebook at facebook.com/joe.taschler.1.