Cleveland weather radar picks up large mass of bugs
Digital Reporter
Friday, June 26, 2015, 3:22 PM - Mayflies are out in full force around Lake Erie, and bug swarms have been large enough to show up on weather radar.
Doppler images taken Tuesday night shows the large insect cloud moving over Cleveland.
Local media is warning residents to expect the insects "in the millions", followed by countless bug corpses, since the life span of an adult can be over in as little as 30 minutes.
The bugs have already caused problems in Pennsylvania, when officials were forced to close a bridge for two nights after a swarm of mayflies congregated on a bridge. Officials say the cloud of insects was large enough to cause several car accidents.
The dead bugs are more than unsightly: They produce a smell that witnesses say resembles "rotting fish."
Invasion of the mayflies pic.twitter.com/ER2yW7fTEC
— Benjamin (@frankartb) June 24, 2015.@MarkJWeather mayflies at put in bay Sunday night pic.twitter.com/pYGLZX5dKH
— Flew (@Flewdog50) June 24, 2015
Mayflies hatch in the spring in large numbers.
Weather radar in Pittsburgh has spotted the bugs as well:
Every Summer large numbers of mayflies hatch from Lake Erie. We have been seeing this on radar the last few nights. pic.twitter.com/FdkSm5WSUo
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) June 22, 2015
This isn't the first time a mass of creatures has been picked up by weather radar.
Last September a 'cloud' formation spotted by National Weather Service (NWS) radar in the U.S. over St. Louis, Missouri turned out to be a swarm of monarch butterflies on their way to their breeding grounds in Mexico.
Source: Atlantic CityLab
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