Rare phenomenon! Photos show Canadian shore from NE Ohio

Paul Kiska
·2 min read

*Above video shows Canadian shore from Westlake during a temperature inversion*

VERMILION, Ohio (WJW) — Have you ever looked across Lake Erie and seen the Canadian shore from Northeast Ohio?

It doesn’t happen often, so it’s a lucky treat if you saw just that Tuesday, when an ideal confluence of warm spring air and cold water created a temperature inversion.

If you have this tree on your land, contact NE Ohio researchers

“Under normal circumstances, we cannot see Canada from Northern Ohio because of the earth’s curvature,” said FOX 8 meteorologist Scott Sabol on Wednesday. “However, because Lake Erie is still so cold and the air aloft was so warm, the difference in air temperature (inversion) caused the light to bend, making the Canadian shoreline visible.”

  • Courtesy: Doug Kishman: Refraction of Kelly’s Island in foreground of Perry Monument on Put-in-Bay: If you look closely for a moment you’ll notice it’s a mirage making the island appear to be floating, according to Jay Reynolds
    Courtesy: Doug Kishman: Refraction of Kelly’s Island in foreground of Perry Monument on Put-in-Bay: If you look closely for a moment you’ll notice it’s a mirage making the island appear to be floating, according to Jay Reynolds
  • Courtesy: Doug Kishman: Refraction of Cedar Point, and while the camera is zoomed in, refraction still makes it appear closer and higher from Vermilion, according to Jay Reynolds
    Courtesy: Doug Kishman: Refraction of Cedar Point, and while the camera is zoomed in, refraction still makes it appear closer and higher from Vermilion, according to Jay Reynolds
  • Courtesy: Doug Kishman: The darkness on the horizon is of the Canada shore which is only seen from Vermilion during a temperature inversion, according to Jay Reynolds
    Courtesy: Doug Kishman: The darkness on the horizon is of the Canada shore which is only seen from Vermilion during a temperature inversion, according to Jay Reynolds

The GIF below is of flashing red lights atop wind turbines on the Canadian shore, as seen in a photo from 50 nautical miles away, at Bay Village’s Huntington Beach, courtesy of Reynolds.

Reynolds said that the white moving object in the foreground is a cargo ship about 35 nautical miles away on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, which is something rarely visible from the Ohio shore at that distance unless there’s refraction caused by a temperature inversion.

The inversion also benefited from Lake Erie being very smooth Tuesday when Doug Kishman took photos from Vermilion, then shared them with FOX 8 News.

Casting call for NE Ohio dogs to be in national ads

Kishman, who has lived on the shore of Lake Erie his entire life said, “An inversion can create a mirror-like effect. We’ve seen ore carrier boats that are actually beyond the curvature of the earth appear to float upside-down in the sky.

“A temperature inversion can also show land masses that usually aren’t visible from here, like Pelee Island, which is in Canadian water, and Leamington, Ontario,” Kishman said.

This type of temperature inversion usually happens in the spring when Lake Erie water is still cold from winter and early spring days can get very warm.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.