It's Not Just the East Coast: Chicago Could See Waves as High as 23 Feet

While most of the nation's eyes are on the tidal swamping of the East Coast, there's something ominous happening in the Midwest that also deserves attention. Take a look at today's weather watches/warnings map from the National Weather Service:

See the part of Lake Michigan that's gone all eggplant? That's the signifier of a "lakeshore flood warning" for Chicago and its suburbs. Hurricane Sandy is so intense that it's expected to do a sort of victory tour of the United States after thrashing the Atlantic coast, and its ferocious winds are likely to push waves on the Great Lakes up to insane heights.