Syracuse, N.Y. -- Lake Ontario is higher than it has been in mid-May in at least 157 years, and could soon break the month's all-time record.

The lake level is now at 248.46 feet above sea level, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The previous record for this time of year was 248.20 feet, in 1973.

Records date back to 1860.

The lake is likely to keep rising, too, and could set another record for the highest average level for the month of May.

The Lake Ontario basin has had "unbelievable amounts of rain" since April 1, said Keith Kompoltowicz, spokesman for the Army corps office in Detroit.

Nearly 8 inches of rain has fallen in the Lake Ontario basin since April 1, about double the normal amount, according to the agency's statistics.

"The precipitation has impacted Lake Ontario like a bullseye," Kompoltowicz said.

The Army corps predicts it could continue to rise throughout May and finally start to recede in June, although Kompoltowicz said if rain continues to fall, the lake could keep rising into June.

Frank Bevacqua, spokesman for the International Joint Commission, which regulates water levels along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, said the lake is likely to continue to rise for a couple of weeks.

Communities along the lake have been under flood warnings for much of the past few weeks, and states of emergency have been declared.

The level of Lake Ontario has spiked much faster than the other Great Lakes. Lake Ontario has risen about 43 inches since January, about double the rise of neighboring Lake Erie. Most of that increase has come since April 1.

The level of Lake Ontario has spiked much faster than the other Great Lakes due to nearly double the normal rainfall in the Ontario basin since April 1.

Ontario is rising faster because of the excessive rainfall in the lake's watershed and rainfall around Lake Erie, which drains into Lake Ontario, Bevacqua said.

There's no place for the water to go. Downstream in the St. Lawrence River basin, rainfall has been more than double the normal amount, Bevacqua said, resulting in flooding in Montreal that has led to the evacuations of thousands of people. The river is 4 feet above normal.

That complicates the commission's ability to lower Lake Ontario by letting water flow out through the dam at Cornwall and into the St. Lawrence River near Montreal.

"Removing an inch of water from Lake Ontario would raise the level at Montreal by 11 inches," he said. "It's a big lake and that's a river."

Many lakeside residents blame the high levels on Plan 2014, the commission's new water control policy that went into effect this year.