Great Lakes Ice Cover Greatest in 35 Years, Nearing All-Time Record

      Thanks to a record-shattering late February and early March Arctic blast during one of the persistently coldest winters in decades, 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 (NOAA/GLERL), ice covered 91.8 percent of the Great Lakes on March 5. In records dating to 1973, only February 1979 (94.7 percent peak) had a greater ice coverage. 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. Only a small area of southern Lake Michigan and much of western and central Lake Ontario have significant ice-free stretches, according to the March 5 NOAA/GLERL analysis.
About 95 percent of Lake Superior, just under 96 percent of Lake Huron, 95 percent of Lake Erie, and 92 percent of Lake Michigan is ice-covered. Lake Ontario, which typically gets less ice coverage because it has three times the volume of water compared to Lake Erie, is about 47 percent ice-covered. The ice coverage has set an early March record, topping March ice cover in the previous two standard-bearing years, 1979 and 1994:

• March 5, 1979: 75.98 percent
• March 4, 1994: 85.78 percent

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/great-lakes-ice-cover-record-march-20140305