We often see in movies and documentaries therories and CGI animation outlining possible devasting effects to coastal locations should a large (i.e., dinosaur killing) meteorite impact in one of the world’s oceans. My question is, would Chicago, due to the St. Lawrence Seaway, experience the giant wall of water if a meteorite impacted on the east coast/Atlantic Ocean?
No.
If a tsunami did happen to go up the St. Lawrence Seaway just right, it would be greatly disapated when it entered Lake Ontario. Then past that, going up the Niagara River would kill a lot of its energy too. There’s one more elevation change between Erie and Huron/Michigan, so I’d say Chicago wouldn’t notice a thing, waterwise.
(FWIW, Huron and Michigan should rightly be considered one large lake. They have the same elevation, and are separated by a wide passage, not a river as every other lake is segregated.)
Now, from the other effects of the meteor hit…