Northeast Ohio’s midges are back, and they may be hovering over Progressive Field just in time for another Guardians playoff night.
The tiny, nonbiting flies have been showing up in bigger numbers around Lake Erie, and Travis Hartman, the Lake Erie fisheries program administrator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said more hatches could keep coming through October. That means Cleveland fans heading to Monday’s Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the White Sox at 5 p.m. could have some unwanted airborne guests.
“I would be surprised if there aren’t midges around the stadium this evening,” he said.
The timing brings back one of the strangest October moments in Cleveland baseball. In 2007, midges swarmed Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain during a playoff game and became part of the story as Cleveland erased a one-run deficit and won in extra innings.
Monday is 19 years since that infamous “bug game,” and postseason baseball is back at Progressive Field.
Hartman said north winds have pushed the insects toward the shoreline and nearby communities, which is why they’re more noticeable now. He called the current run of hatches pretty normal for October in recent years.
Midges are usually linked to late spring and early summer, but they do not stick to that calendar. “Midges commonly hatch throughout the open water season,” Hartman said. “If the lake is not ice covered, hatches are possible.”
Scientifically known as chironomids, the insects spend most of their lives as larvae in the lake bottom sediment before emerging as adults. Water temperature plays a big role in when that happens. WKYC Channel 3 meteorologist Mark Johnson addressed that in an Instagram Reel last week, explaining that water temperatures in the low 60s near the lake bottom can support fall hatches.
“The hatching of these little pesky bugs is all temperature dependent,” Johnson said.
NOAA estimated bottom-water temperatures Monday morning were in the 60s along much of Ohio’s nearshore waters, with colder water farther offshore. Hartman also said the condition of the sediment matters, noting that midge abundance is tied to oxygen levels there. In his view, frequent hatches point to improved water quality and enough oxygen for the insects before they emerge.
The adults don’t last long. They live only a few days, long enough to mate before dying. But the swarms can linger because more hatches keep coming.
“These hatches could continue throughout October and are possible until we get closer to ice forming on the lake,” Hartman said.
For anyone dealing with them around the house or on a walk, the flies are mainly a nuisance. They don’t bite, but they do serve as food for fish, birds and other wildlife.
The 2007 ALDS remains the classic Cleveland midge memory. Chamberlain ended up with insects clinging to his neck, and bug spray didn’t do much to help.
With the Yankees up 1-0 in the eighth, he threw two wild pitches, and the second let Grady Sizemore score the tying run. Travis Hafner’s single in the 11th delivered a 2-1 Indians win.
At the time, Joe Keiper of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History said unusually warm weather had “kind of juiced up the life cycle,” creating an extra round of midges. He also thought the bright lights at Jacobs Field, now Progressive Field, may have drawn them in.
For Monday night, Hartman said forecasts call for northwest winds to ease as the evening goes on. That should let the lake settle while a lighter breeze continues toward the Ohio shoreline, a setup he expects could send midges back around the ballpark.
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