Check for Unsafe Great Lakes Beaches Before Memorial Day

Headed to the lake for the long Memorial Day Weekend ahead?

Watery diarrhea could follow.

Lake season is also the season for Giardia, Cryptosporidiosis and other water-borne pathogens with scary sounding names and impossible-to -ignore symptoms. Think bloating, a pain right in your gut, watery diarrhea and other unpleasantries that can suck the fun right out of your weekend at the beach.

And that’s just the stuff that won’t kill you.

Fortunately, the National Weather Services has a tool to let you know when it’s not safe to swim in the Great Lakes before you head out. The Great Lakes Beach Hazards site also has information about waves and currents, harmful algal blooms and the UV index.

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The Weather Service also began issuing 2016 recreational beach season forecasts and beach hazards statements in the Great Lakes region on Wednesday. They’ll start for Lake Superior on June 15, and the site will be regularly updated throughout the season, with alerts when necessary.

As you’re thinking about all the parasites in the water, swallow this bit of good news:

That particularly sinister parasite that eats away at its host’s brain tissue until they die thrives in warmer waters, like hot springs and freshwater lakes and rivers in southern regions. Only three of the 133 people who contracted primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) infections between 1964 and 2014 survived, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Image credit: Rick Uldricks