Lake Erie is the southernmost of the five Great Lakes in the United States and the shallowest. It is located on the border with Ontario in Canada and serves as the border with the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New York on the US side.
 |
| Lake Erie |
Due to its size (it occupies about 25,700 square kilometers), it is considered the thirteenth natural lake in the world. Completely navigable, it has an elevation above sea level of 173 meters and an average depth of 19 meters; in this sense, it is the shallowest of the Great Lakes as a whole.
It was the last of the Great Lakes to be discovered, and the French explorers who did so named it Lake Erie after a native tribe of the same name who inhabited the area.
Like the other lakes, there are also many islands in Lake Erie. In total there are twenty-four, nine of which belong to Canada. Some of the larger islands are Kelleys Island, South Bass Island, or Johnson's Island.
As a curiosity, Lake Erie has its own microclimate, which makes this area fertile for growing fruits, vegetables, and vines for making wine. Lake Erie is also popular for its Lake Effect snowstorms that it dumps on the city's eastern suburbs, from Shaker Heights to Buffalo. This occurs in late winter and early spring.