Anyone who lives or works along the lake or rivers in Northeast Ohio knows that the heat has also brought along some flying pests.
Mayflies are back and likely to get worse before they get better.
Channel 3's Brandon Simmons tells us what they mean for the lake and how people are dealing with them.
This picture of a car covered in Mayflies from WXKR in Toldeo has been trending on social media for days.
While it's not quite that bad in Northeast Ohio…yet. They're still bad enough where you can find people who are annoyed by them.
“They're everywhere. We walked by the bathrooms and they make me sick.
Bugs are everywhere. When we're walking on the grass they just come up. And they're just annoying because they stick on your clothes. “
There are so many of them near the shores of lake Erie, they show up on weather radars.
And their presence is a good thing.
They're sensitive to pollution so Mayflies are only going to be around where there's clean water. A clean lake Erie, a clean Rocky River, a clean Chagrin River.
May flies are a good sign that our waterways are clean. They spend most of their lives buried in the mud of the water – the nymph stage.
But when it gets warm they emerge as flying adults for just a few days.
The stage is set right now for a massive explosion of Mayflies. From late June into July, we're going to get them along the lakefront and the rivers.
So if you think it's bad now, just know it could get worse. But don't worry they don't bite or sting, they're just… annoying.