Most people avoid the beach on a stormy day. Not Cody Evans.
The howling wind and rough waters are what draw the photographer from Ingersoll, Ont., to Lake Erie regularly on a mission to capture the perfect shot — and last Friday was his lucky day.
Of the more than 10,000 photos he took, one looked like a face.
Evans said he thought it resembled the face of Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea and storms.
Cody Evans is a photographer from Ingersoll, Ontario, south of London. (Submitted by Cody Evans)
“I was kind of blown away,” he said. “You see a lot of things like that in waves and in clouds, but for it to be clear like that was just unreal. This photo certainly stood out from all the others.”
Since 2020, Evans has been using his Nikon Z9 camera to capture the movement of waves in the lake, but it was an image he didn’t expect to see, he said.
“It was just crazy, it was like the perfect day. I’ve been going there for three years trying to get good shots and this was the best day I’ve had there,” Evans said.
So what was in the air that caused this phenomenon?
Strong winds and increased waves
According to Environment Canada meteorologist Daniel Liotta, the short answer is “November storms,” strong winds over marine areas that travel at speeds over 40 miles per hour.
“The lakes this time of year are relatively warm compared to the air above them, especially with the cold air mass that came into the Great Lakes this past weekend,” Liotta said. “So that led to very gusty winds over the water.”
One of the many photos Cody Evans took of the waves on Lake Erie. (Submitted by Cody Evans)
Storms are especially common between the fall and winter seasons, Liotta said. In this case, southwesterly winds traveled a long distance over the lake and built these waves over the water, he added.
Evans admits windy days can be tough on the beach, especially with cold weather and sandy winds, but he made sure to wait for the snow to see the waves break.
“The waves were breaking pretty well because the pier pushes the water back into the lake, so when the water is pushed back, the waves collide and cause these peaks,” he said.
This was due to the cold air that was prominent in the Great Lakes region coming in behind a cold front creating unstable conditions causing some lake effect snow.
“Usually we have an active storm track coming across the lake this time of year, especially after these stronger systems that bring in cold air masses,” Liotta said.
Strong winds causing strong winds and increased waves on Lake Erie in Port Stanley, Ontario. (Submitted by Cody Evans)
“So we get strong instability over the waters, which leads to sustained strong winds and gusts over the Great Lakes, hence the storms.”
Liotta says there isn’t much behind these kinds of waves and that they happen every year.
But Evans is determined to continue his streak of capturing more of these shots in Port Stanley. “I’m going to hold a camera in my hands until I can’t hold it anymore, honestly, I love it,” he said.
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