Great Lakes Ice Cover More Than Doubled in a Matter of Days
You know there’s been an arctic air mass in place. Well, that arctic air has led the Great Lakes percentage of ice cover to more than double in just a matter of 5 days.
The total ice cover as of New Year’s Eve is at 14.8% compared to just last Wednesday (December 27th) at 6%! The extreme cold and dangerous wind chills are to blame. Even though the ice cover is impressive. scientists were not surprised by this.
Arctic Air Expanding Great Lakes Ice; extended cold wx has quickly expanded ice on the Great Lakes, similar to Dec 2013 that ultimately helped the Lakes nearly freeze over. Current Great Lakes ice cover is 15%, compared to 3% this date one year ago, and only 0.5 this date is 2015 pic.twitter.com/Gh3EnfDlxR
— NWS Gaylord (@NWSGaylord) December 31, 2017
Although the Great Lake ice went through a pretty significant growth spurt, we are still on track to see more ice cover the lake this winter.
and since water temperatures are still above freezing, lake effect snow can be expected to continue.
Stay tuned as we keep you updated on the situation over the Great Lakes:
For WeatherNation: Meteorologist Andy stein