Great Lakes Ice Page

Cool!

Is it known whether there have been any changes in the ice extent assessment procedure over time? Both Lake Superior and Lake Erie, which freeze over the most often, push up against 100% repeatedly before 2000, but only reach a maximum extent of ~95% after that. Given that they have now been sitting at that extent for a good while this year, while the other lakes have continued to build ice, one wonders if there has been some change in the scoring system at around 2000.

Lake Superior still has considerable ice as of this Memorial Day, this article has some great pictures!
http://www.weather.com/news/lake-superior-ice-memorial-day-weekend-2014-20140526

Lake Superior FINALLY ice-free as of June 12, 2014!!

The Great Lakes are officially — and finally — free of ice.
One of the coldest winters on record covered most of the Great Lakes with ice, including an entirely iced-over Lake Superior, and it’s taken a while for it to melt.
But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration CoastWatch declared Thursday that the Great Lakes total ice cover finally reached 0%.
This year was the longest ice has been seen on Lake Superior in 40 years of NOAA records.
The Great Lakes hit the second-highest ice coverage on record on March 6 with 92% of the five lakes covered in ice. Temperatures in the Great Lakes region averaged 7 degrees below normal from Jan. 1 to April 1, according to AccuWeather Global Weather Center.
The last time ice coverage lasted almost this long was in 2003 when the last ice melted on May 29.
More than a third of the Great Lakes remained covered in ice by mid-April this year, and that caused problems for shipping. The Coast Guard was out on the lakes breaking up ice from early December through spring.
With ice just now gone, water temperatures are unseasonably low for this time of year, with temperatures as low as the 40s. Low lake temperatures will have a big impact on summer weather in communities along the Great Lakes, including Milwaukee. Forecasters say lower-than-normal water temperatures on the Great Lakes could lead to more widespread fog and less severe weather.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/brrrr-ing-on-summer-ice-on-lake-superior-is-finally-gone-b99290102z1-262914301.html

It turns out that the thick ice cover and heavy snows were good for our Great Lakes!

“The higher lake levels are definitely benefiting boaters,” Stevenson said.
Especially those carrying weighty cargo.
Last month, for instance, the higher water levels meant that one laker leaving from Duluth, Minn., was able to take 2,300 more tons of iron ore onboard than at the same time last year, according to Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers’ Association. Nekvasil estimated that the extra cargo, when turned into steel, would be able to make almost 3,000 more cars.
“Thank goodness we have more water here, because we really need to make up the cargo we lost,” said Nekvasil, pointing out that record-breaking ice cover this winter also slowed Great Lakes shipping down considerably.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-great-lakes-welcome-rising-water-levels-20140707,0,257225.story

July 31, 2014 – Lake Michigan’s cold temps are suppressing ambient temps in Chicago this summer….
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/Extremely-cold-winter-leaves-Lake-Michigan-cooler-than-normal-267022661.html

MILWAUKEE – The effects of our extremely cold winter can still be felt in Lake Michigan.  
“The water temperature this year is averaging quite a bit below normal,” said Steve Hentz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan.
The average temperature as of Friday should have been 64 degrees.  It was closer to 57.
 
“[It’s because] of the colder winter that we had, in addition to the much greater than normal ice cover.  Spring was also cool and summer here – now, we’ve warmed up a little bit, but we’re not really having a hot summer.  In general, it’s due to the cold temperatures we’ve been having ever since winter.”
 
The difference is even more dramatic when you go back a couple of years.
 
“In 2012 and 2010 we had Lake Michigan temperatures around 75 degrees and right now we’re in the mid to upper 50s, so we’re almost 20 degrees cooler than we were just two years ago,” said Hentz. 

This graph shows how infrequently there is any Great Lakes ice at this time of year.

Although not as impressive as last winter’s Great Lake freeze-up, I see that Lake Erie now is 94% covered in ice: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/frozen-over-lake-erie-94-percent-covered-ice-n308091