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In one of his Truth Social bombs, President Donald Trump insisted we should rename Lake Ontario to Lake America after Canada refused to accept his trade negotiation terms. It obviously echoes his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. It's easy to find these whole geographic kerfuffles unnecessary. But the media hated the first one so much that the Associated Press found itself restricted from the White House press pool for refusing to accept the new Gulf terminology. What they hate is anything Trump does to add a patriotic pro-America tinge to something that they associate...

President Trump's order to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" is stirring up more controversy, as tech companies decide whether to comply or not. The big picture: Google and other digital map providers — like MapQuest and Apple — have split on whether to accept the name change or keep Lake Ontario on their maps. Driving the news: An Axios review of Google and Apple Maps on Sunday showed Google now says "Lake America" on mobile and desktop, while Apple Maps says Lake Ontario. Google said Saturday that it had changed the maps in accordance with updates from the U.S....

President Trump's order to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" is stirring up more controversy, as tech companies decide whether to comply or not.The big picture: Google and other digital map providers — like MapQuest and Apple — have split on whether to accept the name change or keep Lake Ontario on their maps. Driving the news: An Axios review of Google and Apple Maps on Sunday showed Google now says "Lake America" on mobile and desktop, while Apple Maps says Lake Ontario.Google said Saturday that it had changed the maps in accordance with updates from the U.S. Geographic Names...

The Irish Rovers sang about the biggest mixup that you have ever seen: he was christened David Anthony, but still in spite of that, his father called him William while his mother called him Pat. Picture the feelings of Lake Ontario this morning. It was christened Lac Saint-Louis by Samuel de Champlain, but it’s woken up to Canada calling it William and the US calling it Pat – or rather, Lake America (without the “of,” as Trump helpfully specified in his video on Truth Social). Although Lac Saint-Louis is surely a better and more historically founded name than Lake America,...

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The move comes amid the president’s repeated threats and taunts that he would do so amid his escalating trade war with Canada. “This is official, effective immediately,” Trump said after signing the order in the Oval Office. The president said he’d “filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else” for the name change. “We notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So we’ve done everything that you have to do, and this is official, effective immediately,” he said. The order says...

A fiber-optic cable survey of the lake from Buffalo to Toronto alerted experts to an anomaly sitting on the lakebed, leading experts to surmise it could be the Rapid City vessel, an 1884-built schooner lost in 1917.Now, though, they don't think it can be that recent a wreckage.James Conolly, Trent University archaeologist and diver, said there were features that just weren't common for ships built after 1850, a period that experienced a bit of a technological leap for Great Lakes ships. Post-1850s ships had metal rigging, whereas the one found is rope-rigged. "It immediately puts it into, likely, the first...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Paralyzing amounts of snow are continuing to smother towns along the eastern shores of the Great Lakes as a record-breaking lake-effect snowstorm blasts the region, prompting major road closures and travel bans. As of Sunday, snowfall totals have exceeded 3 feet downwind of Lake Erie in parts of northwestern Pennsylvania’s Erie County and western New York south of Buffalo and downwind of Lake Ontario in northern New York, and an additional 1-2 feet of snow is possible before the storm begins to wind down. With snow falling between 1 and 4 inches an hour, accumulations overwhelmed efforts...

232 waterspouts/funnels have been confirmed over the Great Lakes from September 28 to October 4, 2020, in the second world record waterspout outbreak of the year, according to the International Center for Waterspout Research (ICWR). From August 16 to 19, 2020, a short-lived waterspout outbreak produced 88 funnels, setting a new world record waterspout outbreak -- the first of the year. Both outbreaks were a result of Canadian cold air sweeping over the region, which made surface air prone to rise. "There were an average of 33 per day," said ICWR director Wade Szilagyi, also a meteorologist at Environment Canada....

Water levels on Lake Ontario have reached the highest point in recorded history, putting the Toronto Islands at risk of significant flooding. Current levels have reached 76.03 metres above sea level, topping the previous record of 75.93 metres which was set in 2017 when the islands were inundated with water. Ferry service to Hanlan's Point has been suspended and the area around Gibraltar Point has been closed off as a result. Worse, strong winds are expected on Thursday afternoon, something that could lead to "significant wave action," local Coun. Joe Cressy warned. "This is a difficult time for local residents,...

“Great Lakes ice is now running ahead of last year and ice will increase with more brutal cold coming,” says meteorologist Joe d’Aleo. “We are likely to have the most ice since records began.” “By the end of February the entire country east of the Rockies will have averaged below normal,” says d’Aleo. “Boston will have either the coldest or second coldest month in their history. It is nearly 13F below normal in Cleveland and all points east for February. Boston has the second most snow for the season and is very likely to be the snowiest ever by the...

According to NOAA's Great Lakes Surface Environment Analysis (GLSEA) the record for total Great Lakes ice coverage was set in 1979 with 94.7% coverage. Last year's winter almost broke that record with 92.2% and is currently sitting in second place. Just a few days ago the ice coverage sat at 60%. Today that number has jumped to 76.6% based on yesterday's analysis due the recent cold the area has been receiving. Their forecast for the next 24 hours is for that coverage to jump to 82.3%. This is within 10% of second place. Some long range weather forecasts I have...

More than 4,700 square miles of ice formed over the Great Lakes in just one night on Tuesday. The Arctic blast that swept the Midwest and Northeast saw a near-record amount of Lake Ontario was iced over, with just 20 per cent of open water left. Overall 82 percent of the five water bodies sealed up. Temperatures are expected to drop again on Thursday night, leading forecasters to predict that figure to climb significantly by Friday morning.

The Siberian Express that’s imported northern Russia’s weather into North America is leading to a second year of fast-growing ice cover on the Great Lakes, setting up the Chicago area for the possibility of another cool spring. By Wednesday, the Great Lakes were 85.4 percent ice-covered, just above the 85.2 percent on Feb. 18 last year, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. With below-average temperatures predicted for at least the next week, the lakes could approach last year’s levels of 92.5 percent ice cover, the second-highest level since records began in the early 1970s.

The ice on Lake Ontario sparkles in the afternoon winter sun. “Come over here,” beckons Tyler Hnatuk. “I’ve found a perfect spot.” Alec Farquhar, his wife Kathleen McDonnell and I pivot on our skates and speed north. Ahead of us, across the frozen lake, bristle Toronto’s towers. Our skates bounce on bumpy patches and slow down over snow drifts. We come to open, smooth ice, longer than many rinks. We glide to and fro, swirling and smiling and enjoying the great outdoors. Some in Toronto complain when the thermometer dips to -26C, as it did outside my kitchen window Friday...

Ever since Asian carp were accidentally introduced into U.S. rivers in the 1970s, the invasive fish have been hungrily making their way to the Great Lakes, causing residents of the watershed to dread the arrival of carp in delicate Lake ecosystems, and their potential impacts on the 7 billion dollar fishing industry that represents a major economic driver for the region. Now, a new study suggests that Asian carp have breached southern Lake Michigan, although they have not yet arrived in numbers great enough to devastate native ecosystems. Scientists at Notre Dame University, Southern Michigan University, and The Nature Conservancy...

Waterport/Carlton, NY - A group of worshippers at a mosque in Waterport say they've been targets of violence over the last several days. They gave statements to authorities Tuesday morning. Now, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office confirms that at least one person will be arraigned in the Town of Colton for a hate crime -- disrupting a religious service, and shooting a gun. According to Jacob Zimmerman, member of the World Sufi Foundation,

ONTARIO — Three men were charged Saturday with second-degree reckless endangerment after shots were fired — apparently with an AK-47 — on Lake Road and Ontario Center Road. State police found shell casings from ammunition used for an AK-47 about two-tenths of a mile from Robert E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant property. But State Police Investigator Jeff Miller said no connection had been found between the gunfire and the plant.

Ontario, Wayne County)- State Police in Wayne County arrested three men Saturday after reports of gun shots heard near the Ginna nuclear power plant in the town of Ontario. Police say the shots were fired on Ontario Center road around 4:50 a.m. Troopers say they stopped a car in the area and found an AK-47 rifle in the trunk.

NORTH ROSE – A Wolcott fruit grower is accusing the U.S. Border Patrol of racially profiling four of his workers who were stopped on Route 414 Aug. 17 as they were returning to his farm from a trip to purchase clothing. The men were all detained and taken for processing; Border Patrol Officer E. Rodriguez, who was in charge of the scene, told fruit grower Brian Doyle the men volunteered they were in the U.S. illegally. Doyle said Rodriguez then accused him of being a “federal criminal” because he employed the men. He said Rodriguez continually referred to the men...

The Bush administration in 2002 considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, New York, suburb to arrest a group of terror suspects, the New York Times reported. WASHINGTON - The Bush administration in 2002 considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, New York, suburb to arrest a group of terror suspects in what would have been a nearly unprecedented use of military power within the United States, The New York Times reported. Vice President Dick Cheney and several other Bush advisers at the time strongly urged that the military be used to apprehend men who were suspected of plotting with...