The Great Lakes Frozen, Canada–United States Border, North America

The Great Lakes have been observed to help intensify storms, such as Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and the 2011 Goderich, Ontario tornado, which moved onshore as a tornadic waterspout. Also observed in 1996 was a rare subtropical cyclone forming in Lake Huron, dubbed the 1996 Lake Huron cyclone. Mainly a nighttime occurrence, Mesoscale convective complexs or MCCs – rather large severe thunderstorms covering wide areas – are well known in the Great Lakes during mid-summer, causing damage to wide swaths of forest and shattering glass in city buildings; these systems sometimes have small embedded tornadoes, but more often straight line winds accompanied by intense lightning.
History
The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was built at Cayuga Creek, near the southern end of the Niagara River, and became the first sailing ship to travel the upper Great Lakes on August 7, 1679.