The midges are back!
It's that time of year again when thousands of midges are emerging from Lake Erie.
When I was driving into work from the east side Sunday morning, I heard a tapping on my windshield. I briefly thought it was NOT supposed to rain before noticing my windshield was filthy! Once I made it to downtown/News 5, I was pretty surprised to see this many dead midges on my car!
MIDGES ARE BACK! It's about that time of the year that our pesky friends emerge from Lake Erie. Midges typically hatch when the water temperature is near 60 degrees and is a sign of healthy lake. I was not prepared for the massacre on my car this morning though! pic.twitter.com/UIh6xbZbS4
— Katie McGraw (@KatieMcGrawx) May 18, 2025
These tiny mosquito-like flies can be a nuisance, but are harmless and offer more of a purpose beyond annoyance.
They are a sign of good health for Lake Erie and play an important role in the ecosystem. They can also provide food for fish and other aquatic life.
Every year, when Lake Erie's water temperature reaches about 60 degrees, our tiny friends emerge from the lake.
The current Lake Erie temperature is about 56 degrees off the shores of Cleveland, but it is 65 degrees off the shores of Toledo. And that is the signal for the midges to hatch.
The larvae, or bloodworms, have been there for weeks. They spend most of their life like that. It's the warmth, though, that brings them to the surface. The next step in the midge life cycle is reproduction.
That is why we see huge swarms of them; it is the midges mating so that reproduction can happen.
They don’t have a lot of time, as the midge's lifespan is short, from just a few hours to a couple of days. The swarms can be so massive that the Power of 5 weather radar can pick them up!
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