Lake Erie and Cleveland go together like peanut butter and jelly. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a "hidden" gem about Northeast Ohio, but a lot of people outside the region and state just don't understand how incredible a body of water it is, and how accessible and wonderful Lake Erie is for residents throughout the year.
So to help spread the word, here are some essential statistics and tidbits about everyone's favorite Great Lake:
Key Stats and Facts About Lake Erie
Physical Characteristics
- Lake Erie is the fourth-largest Great Lake, and the eleventh-largest lake in the world. That being said, it's the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume - containing between 116 and 119 cubic miles of water - and the shallowest, with the average depth just 62 feet.
- The surface area of Lake Erie covers approximately 9,910 square miles (though some say a bit more) and is big enough to fit the states of Delaware, Rhode Island, and Connecticut within its shores, with 400 square miles to spare.
- The lake measures 241 miles across from east to west and 57 miles at its widest point from north to south. Normally, due to the Earth's curvature, you couldn't see Canada from Cleveland, but thanks to a phenomenon known as a temperature inversion, the Canadian shore is sometimes visible.
- There are 872 miles of shoreline on Lake Erie, including its islands.
- There are 31 total Lake Erie islands (13 in Canada and 18 in the United States).
- Lake Erie is a true graveyard for ships. Some of the highest estimates suggest there have been more than 2,000 shipwrecks in what is the smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes. There are other shipwreck estimates as high as 8,000, with 270 of these locations officially confirmed.
- Speaking of shallow depth, Lake Erie is 210 feet deep at its greatest depth.
Biology and Environment
- Lake Erie is home to between 107 and 120 species of fish; speaking to the low end, 90 are native species and 17 are introduced.
- There are an estimated 180 invasive species throughout the Great Lakes, and the largest, most harmful algal blooms recorded on Lake Erie occurred in 2015 (severity index of 10.5) and 2011 (severity index of 10).
- The threatened Lake Erie water snake saw its population climb to over 12,000 by 2010, leading to its removal from the U.S. threatened species list in 2011.
- Mayfly clouds - everybody's favorite - can measure up to ten miles long on radar, and a single female can lay up to 8,000 eggs.
- Between 34 and 36 inches of water evaporates from the lake's surface annually.
- The warmest water temperature ever recorded in Lake Erie was 86.2 °F (30.1°C), measured on August 2, 1988.
- Lake Erie is even home to Bessie, its very own cryptid. Bessie, also known as the "Great Snake of Lake Erie," is reportedly 30-40 feet long and bears a striking resemblance to the infamous Loch Ness Monster.
The People of Lake Erie
- About 12 million people live in the Lake Erie watershed, which includes 17 metropolitan areas with more than 50,000 residents.
- Lake Erie provides drinking water for roughly 11 million people.
- Lake Erie has one of the world's largest freshwater commercial fisheries, thanks to the lake's fish population accounting for nearly 50 percent of all fish in the Great Lakes. Estimates for the total fishing market in the Great Lakes region ranges from $4 billion to $7 billion annually.
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