Buffalo residents were treated to an unusual sight on Aug. 16, 1894: a detailed image of Toronto hovering over Lake Ontario.

Or rather, “a city in the air,” according to a November 1894 Arizona Republic newspaper article.

For about an hour during the mid-morning, Toronto, its harbor, and the Island to the south of the city were visible to those on the ground in Buffalo. Normally Toronto is only visible to those high up over Buffalo.

“A close examination of the map showed that the mirage did not cause the slightest distortion, the gradual rise of the city from the water being rendered perfectly,” said an August 1894 edition of Scientific American magazine.

Despite being approximately 93 km away, witnesses on that fateful day could see a few ships, and for the first 10 minutes, even count downtown church spires.

The Norseman, a large side-wheel steamer, could be seen travelling in a line from Charlotte, a suburb of Rochester, N.Y., to Toronto Bay, according to an August 1894 Philadelphia Inquirer article. Two dark objects were identified as large steamers of the New York Central line between Lewiston and Toronto. And a sailboat, which was “apparently a yacht,” was visible for a short time before disappearing.

“The whole great scene began slowly to dissolve, a bank of black clouds sweeping along and obliterating the picture, to the disappointment of thousands who had swarmed to the tops of the highest buildings,” the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote.

An estimated 20 thousand spectators saw the mirage, which was dubbed a superior mirage, meaning the image was projected above the object rather than below it.

Mirages are caused by different densities or different temperatures in the air, according to Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. For superior mirages, cold air lies beneath warmer air and light rays bend down towards the colder and denser air.

This may have occurred in August 1894, Coulson said, because the surface of Lake Ontario – and the air above it – was cool, while the summer air directly above it was hot.

“[Light rays] will bend slightly and head up again so normally the city would be over the horizon but this allows the light to bend over the lake and make it across the lake without being blocked by the horizon,” Stephen Morris, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto, said.

There have been a few other recorded instances of mirages in the Lake Ontario area. In March 1885, The Globe reported that a mirage known as “looming up” was visible in Toronto, such that “the whole breadth of Lake Ontario was visible,” and in April 1925 the Star documented a mirage where the lights of both shores at Niagara-on-the-Lake were visible from each other, “so distinctly that people in Port Dalhousie for instance, saw Sunnyside’s illuminations as clearly as if they were standing on Toronto Island.”

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While a mirage of an entire city is rare, Morris said mirages are “always there to some small extent but until it gets strong enough to show you something like the image of a whole city you might not notice it.”

#RandomToronto is an occasional series fact-checking and exploring little-known stories about our city.