Frigid Winter Locks Great Lakes in Ice

The harsh winter of 2013-14 has temporarily slowed the long-term trend of declining ice cover on the five Great Lakes. Last week, the mean ice cover across the lakes topped out at about 90%, which hasn't happened since 1994. The 90% reading fell short of the maximum mean ice extent of 94.7% during the frigid winter of 1979.

As of Feb. 17, the mean ice cover averaged across the five lakes stood at about 82%, which is well above the recent average for the date, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While the current ice cover is well below the 1979 maximum, it has generated headlines since other recent years have seen paltry amounts of lake ice. In 2002, for example, the maximum mean ice coverage over all the Great Lakes was just 11%. Read more...