Door County in September: Why Locals Tell You to Skip July
If you’re planning a Door County trip and your default month is July, the locals will quietly tell you to push it to September. We’ve been telling our regulars this for 23 summers. Some of them listen. The ones who do come back September after September and don’t bother with July anymore. Here’s the long version of why. The water is warmer in September than in June This surprises people every year, but the math is simple. Lake Michigan is a giant cold-water reservoir that takes most of the summer to warm up. June water temps in Door County run 55 to 62 degrees, the bottom edge of “kayakable without serious shivering.” By September, after three full months of summer sun, the surface is sitting in the high 60s to low 70s. Warmer than June, often warmer than early July….