Hurricane Sandy's Impact Felt on Our Shores, In Our Skies

As residents on the East Coast prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, the National Weather Service is warning of high waves and winds on Lake Michigan as well.

The service has issued a gale watch in effect Monday night through Tuesday. The watch will be in effect for a stretch of the lake that starts in Sheboygan, goes through Illinois and Indiana, and ends up at South Haven, MI.

The affected area will be from 5 nautical miles from the shoreline to about the middle of the lake, the weather service said.

Waves are expected to get to 4 to 7 feet by Monday, and reach up to 16 feet high on Tuesday in southeastern Wisconsin, with winds building to 50 knots (about 58 mph) over the lake by Tuesday.

Waves are expected to get as high as 25 feet in the Chicago area, according to the National Weather Service, and a lakeshore flood watch is also in effect through Monday night in that area, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The hurricane's arrival is also having an effect on the area's temperatures, the Chicago Tribune says, keeping the cooler weather around. The high in Milwaukee is 48 on Monday and 47 on Tuesday.

Air travel across the country snarled

In the meantime, thousands of flights are already being canceled in anticipation, so if you are like the vast majority of air travelers in the area, you will be trying to head out of town from Mitchell International Airport.

As they always say, it's best to contact your airline, and not the airport, so here's a quick guide to the airlines flying out of Mitchell, and links to their flight status page. Good luck and safe flying!

Air Canada

Air Tran Airlines

American 

Continental Airlines

Delta Airlines

Frontier Airlines 

Southwest Airlines

United Airlines

US Airways