Waterspout · Lake Ontario

A digging and sharpening mid-level trough moved from the central Great Lakes in the morning to the eastern Great Lakes by early evening. At the surface, a cold front and weak frontal wave crossed the eastern Great Lakes. Shear was marginally supportive of severe weather with about 25 knots of effective shear. Extensive clouds and showers hampered destabilization across the bulk of the area. Some breaks in the rain and dense overcast allowed for a little greater instability to develop near the Pennsylvania state line, and this supported a broken line of thunderstorms around midday.

Most of the storms were only producing heavy rain and frequent lightning. Later in the day, under the sharpening trough and upper level low, showers and thunderstorms blossomed over the Great Lakes. Cold air aloft associated with the low allowed for temperatures to fall at 850 hPa low enough to support waterspout formation.