Lake Michigan has the dubious honor of being the deadliest Great Lake, with more than half of the drowning fatalities occurring there in any given year.

This year is no different. Already the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project reports 16 people have died in Lake Michigan among the Great Lakes’ 32 fatalities so far, and we’re only now getting into the heavy swimming season.

It’s not “common sense” to know when panic is setting in, or to know that panic can cause the person in the water to go vertical instead of the recommended horizontal floating posture, said Dave Benjamin, who heads the nonprofit.

But the flip-float-follow method can be taught, as can information about currents and how water moves around the shore.

Lake Michigan, which is 307 miles long and 118 miles at its widest, gets a lot of wind, which translates into waves and currents. Where the wind comes from — onshore, side-shore, offshore — speaks to what currents might form.

Rip currents happen when both wind and waves blow onshore, moving water in a trough the opposite direction. It moves like an outlet current at a creek or river mouth, which are strongest after a hard rain.

When carried away from shore, flip over on your back and float until you can follow a safe path outside the current and back to shore.

Side-shore wind and waves can create a longshore current, which get especially dangerous when it runs into a structure like a pier.

Piers also have structural currents that run parallel to them. Once caught in a longshore current, swim straight back to shore.

GLSRP recommendations for a structural current are to float and signal for help and a life ring.

Offshore winds create offshore currents that carry anything floating away from the shoreline. If that happens while you’re on an inflatable, stay with the inflatable and signal for help.

The main point is to float first, develop an exit strategy second. GLSRP recently posted a 5-minute “Great Lakes Dangerous Currents Explainer” video to that effect, with the hope that if one gets caught in a current, knowledge will overcome panic.