do lakes experience high tides?

Answer 1

Hey Cab,

I have to argue with those that say that the effect on Lakes is minimal and hardly noticeable. I lived in Chicago for many years and Lake Michigan's tide would come and go more than 6 feet!

So Yes, lakes do have High and Low Tides!

James in San Diego

Answer 2

Larger Lakes do experience high tides...but, compared to the Oceans are relatively smaller.

A Tide results from the difference in gravitational attraction on both the Near & Far Sides of the earth facing the Moon...and the Stretchiness of the water mass...determines the maximum height of tides. ( There's a similar effect with the Sun - to a lesser degree. )

The huge masses of water in the oceans results in much higher tides, of course...But high tides on the Great Lakes of Canada-USA, for example, still occur...on a much-smaller scale...due to much-smaller masses.

Answer 3

Only the oceans span enough of the globe that tidal effects are noticeable. In the simplest way of thinking about it, only if the breadth of the body of water is a significant fraction of the distance to the Moon will there be tides.

Answer 4

All very large bodies of water have some tidal effect, as the pull of the sun and the moon affects all bodies of water. However, the effect in lakes is minimal, usually unnoticeable.