Scientists still call Lake Erie the most dangerous of the Great Lakes, and new data explains why they refuse to relax. The lake’s shallow western basin warms faster than any of its counterparts, turning it into a perfect reactor for toxic algae blooms.
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, and that single fact shapes nearly everything about how it behaves. Its western basin averages about 24 feet deep, while the open Atlantic averages more than 3,000 meters. When storm waves cannot extend downward, they rise upward, becoming steeper and closer together. For a long ship, this can mean resting on two wave crests with its middle unsupport…