Weather Explainers

Lake Erie Sloshed Like A Bathtub Monday; Here's Why This Seiche Happened

Powerful winds from Winter Storm Ezra triggered a dramatic seiche on Lake Erie, sending water surging up to one end of the lake while exposing the lakebed on the other.

Lake Erie Seiche, Explained

Winter Storm Ezra brought 60– to 80-mph wind gusts, blinding snow and subzero temperatures, but it also delivered something especially fascinating along Lake Erie: a seiche (pronounced “saysh”).

Imagine picking up a bathtub and sloshing it back and forth horizontally. That’s essentially what happens during a seiche. Water piles up dramatically on one side of a lake while water levels drop sharply on the other.

Here’s how it happened:

On Monday, winds gusting up to 80 mph blew across Lake Erie for several hours, pushing enormous amounts of water toward the eastern end of the lake. In Buffalo, New York, water levels surged by nearly 8 feet, flooding shorelines and producing freezing spray as waves crashed ashore in subfreezing air.

(MORE: Winter Storm Unleashes 2 Feet Of Snow)

That freezing spray coated trees, benches and shoreline infrastructure in ice, causing damage, according to The Weather Channel’s former winter weather expert Tom Niziol.

Meanwhile, 225 miles away on the western end of the lake, Toledo, Ohio, experienced the opposite effect.

As water was forced east, Lake Erie’s western basin was essentially drained. Water levels dropped by about 6 feet, exposing bare lakebed and revealing shipwrecks typically hidden beneath the water. That's a net difference of roughly 13 feet from one end of the lake to the other.

This image shows the water level difference on either side of Lake Erie on December 29, 2025, during a seiche event.
(Data: NOAA)

Locals ventured out to take photos of the unusual sight.

But that water doesn’t stay away forever. Once winds relax, the displaced water rushes back, sloshing across the lake and often oscillating for hours before finally settling.

Seiches On Lake Erie Aren’t Unheard Of

Lake Erie typically experiences a strong seiche every few years when powerful winds blow from southwest to northeast, which perfectly aligns with the long, narrow shape of the lake.

Lake Erie stretches roughly 225 miles long, but is only 40–50 miles wide and is the shallowest of the Great Lakes. That combination makes it especially susceptible to dramatic water movement during strong wind events.

In December 2022, Winter Storm Elliott triggered a major seiche on Lake Erie, causing water levels to drop to their lowest on record, according to the National Weather Service.

While the phenomenon can be jaw-dropping to witness, seiches can also be dangerous. Rapidly rising water levels can lead to flooding, shoreline damage and hazardous conditions. Over the years, seiches on the Great Lakes have caused extensive property damage — and in some cases, even claimed lives.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.