CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Lake Erie last month broke its all-time high water record, set in 1986.

The lake in May averaged 574.3 feet over sea level, about 30 inches above normal, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We’re a quarter-inch above the all-time record, set in June 1986.

The reason? Rain -- in both the Lake Erie watershed and around Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron.

“The main driver here is precipitation,” said Army Corps spokesman Andrew Kornacki. “What does it look like for the next few weeks, as far as Lake Erie? I don’t know. If we get less rain, water levels are going to start to decline. If we get more rain, water levels are probably going to increase. It’s a little hard to say.”

Boaters and beach goers throughout the Great Lakes have been awed by high water this spring. Beaches have disappeared and water has washed onto roads.

As a whole, the Great Lakes basin has received 28 percent above its normal May precipitation, according to the Army Corps. Lakes Superior and Ontario have also hit records.

But Lake Erie is the highest above its record.

The Army Corps predicts Lake Erie will drop 2 inches by July 1.

“There’s a lot of water in the system right now,” Kornacki said.

About 92 percent of the water in Lake Erie comes from the upper lakes, through Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River, into Lake Erie. Lake Erie then flows into the Niagara River, into Lake Ontario.

The International Joint Commission can control outflow in the Great Lakes only from Superior and Ontario. But the impact is very small.

How does the high water affect you?

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