Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and produces a number of unique natural weather phenomena throughout the year.
Storms can arise quickly on Lake Erie, sloshing water from one end of the lake’s basin to the other, like displaced water in a bathtub.
A waterspout is a column of rotating cloud-filled wind. It descends from a cumulus cloud to an ocean or lake surface.
An ice dune is a formation of ice that accumulates along shorelines of the Great Lakes during the winter. These dunes are produced by the accumulation of ice washing ashore, snowfall and the gradual freezing of wave spray.
Lake Erie produces some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets on Earth. Photographers and artists alike use Lake Erie’s stunning light show as inspiration, while many people prefer to sit and enjoy its splendor.
Colors are created when light rays hit moisture and dust particles in the atmosphere and change directions, a process known as scattering. At sunrise and sunset, the rays of light pass through more air, and thus more particles, than when the sun is higher in the sky. Red, orange and yellow hues signify more particles in the air, while colors such as pink and purple indicate less.