Record Ice Cover on Great Lakes

Thanks to a record-shattering late February and early March Arctic blast, ice cover on the Great Lakes is now the most widespread in 35 years, and nearing an all-time record. According to an analysis by NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, ice cover peaked at 92.2 percent of the Great Lakes on March 6. In records dating to 1973, only February 1979 had a greater ice coverage at 94.7%. Officials say this is an abrupt turn around from the past four winters, during which the peak ice coverage was around 40 percent or less. The 40-year average peak ice coverage each winter is about 51 percent. About 94 percent of Lake Superior, just under 96 percent of Lake Huron, 96 percent of Lake Erie, and almost 92 percent of Lake Michigan was ice-covered on March 6.