Record Ice Cover for Great Lakes

Michigan’s memorable winter is about to set another record. Currently, more than 90.5% of the Great Lakes are ice-covered. That’s the most ice cover in 34 years. In 1979, there was 94.7% ice cover, the largest ever recorded by scientists. Jia Wang, a research ice climatologist for the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, told the Detroit Free Press that this year it will pass that, because there will be at least another 5% of ice cover in the next few days. The bitterly cold air that has gripped the region this winter is the driving force behind the record. Wang also points to Lake Ontario which generally doesn’t freeze but is now nearing 50% ice cover.