Chris Izworski compiled this Lake Erie reference page because Lake Erie sits at a different position in the Great Lakes hydrologic chain than the upper lakes. It is the shallowest of the five, the warmest in summer, the most algae-prone, and the most volatile in storm response. Property owners on Lake Erie shorelines, particularly in the western basin, experience much sharper short-term level swings than property owners on the deeper, larger upper lakes. A wind setup of three or four feet across the western basin in twelve hours is a routine event on Lake Erie and a once-in-a-decade event on Lake Superior.
Surface area: 9,910 square miles. Average depth: 62 feet, the shallowest of the five.
Maximum depth: 210 feet (eastern basin). Western basin maximum: 33 feet.
Datum: 569.20 feet IGLD85. Long-term average sits near 570.50 feet.
States bordering: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, plus the Canadian province of Ontario.
Outflow: through the Niagara River and Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario.
The live dashboard on greatlakeslevels.org reports the basinwide monthly mean for Lake Erie, but on this lake the basinwide value can disguise large short-term swings. Wind from the southwest piles water into the eastern basin and pulls it out of the western basin; wind from the northeast does the reverse. Property owners on Toledo's western basin shoreline routinely see their waterline move thirty to sixty feet inland or seaward in a single storm.
Anchor years for Lake Erie include 1934 (record monthly low on the historical instrument record), 1986 (twentieth-century high), 2020 (modern high), and the gradual downward trend of 2022 through 2025. The Lake Erie record range from low to high is roughly five feet, smaller than Lake Michigan-Huron because Lake Erie's shorter retention time means it responds more quickly to inflow changes.
The western basin runs from the Detroit River mouth past Toledo, the Lake Erie Islands (Pelee Island, the Bass Islands, Kelleys Island), and the Marblehead Peninsula. It is shallow, productive, and the most volatile sub-region for shoreline experience. Algae bloom risk also concentrates here in late summer.
The central basin runs from Sandusky and Cleveland east through Erie, Pennsylvania. The shoreline here is more uniform, the water deeper than the western basin, and the storm response slightly more moderated, though still sharper than the upper lakes.
The eastern basin includes Buffalo, the Pennsylvania-New York coast, and the Canadian shoreline at Long Point and Port Stanley. This is the deepest part of Lake Erie and the section closest in behavior to the upper lakes, though still smaller and shallower in absolute terms.
Pelee Island and Long Point deserve mention as exposed shoreline features that experience some of the most extreme local conditions on the lake. Both serve as natural wave breaks that protect downwind shoreline.
Lake Erie's regulatory framework varies by state. In Michigan, the OHWM on Lake Erie is 574.0 feet IGLD85 under NREPA Section 32502. Ohio uses a different regulatory framework based on Ohio Revised Code Section 1506. Pennsylvania and New York have their own coastal regulations. Property owners with shoreline parcels in multiple states need to handle each one under its own rules.
The 2019 to 2020 high water cycle caused significant damage to Lake Erie shoreline, particularly in the western basin where the combination of high lake level and frequent wind setup events overwhelmed shoreline protection structures that had been adequate during the prior low cycle. The basinwide level has come down since the 2020 peak, but the cumulative damage and the long-term planning question for property owners on this shoreline is whether to assume the next high water cycle is twenty years out or sooner.
For a current reading, see the live dashboard. For neighboring lake context, see Lake Huron (the source of Lake Erie's inflow via the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers), Lake Michigan, and Lake Ontario (downstream).
For broader Great Lakes context outside this site, see chrisizworski.com. For the perspective from the Lake Huron side of the system, see the Saginaw Bay reference.