It's that time of year. When people along the lakeshore start swatting in front of their faces, trying not to swallow one of the thousands of midges that hatch this time of the year.
Usually, midges will stay within a few miles of the lakeshore, and shouldn't migrate much farther south. They mate in swarms, and can appear to resemble smoke from a distance.
Midges are annoying, but harmless. They shouldn't be confused with Canadian soldiers and mayflies. Those are different.
That would be a heat wave for us! What a change. It should help rid us of the midges too.#Cleveland pic.twitter.com/IyOg4Tn3o9
— ?JD Rudd - News5 (@jdrudd) June 7, 2017
Midges have very short life spans. Usually, adults only live a few days. Their main mission is to mate and reproduce.
There are thousands of types of midge species and midges even live in Antarctica. Along the Lake Erie shoreline, we have around 10 species. Midges will be around for a few weeks, leave for the summer, and then return in the fall.
