Great Lakes ice coverage still breaking records

It’s nearly May and the Great Lakes are still largely frozen with surface ice melting at the slowest rate in recorded history. On April 20, Lake Superior was over 60 percent covered with ice up to 24 inches thick, severely impacting both shipping and wildlife.

Normally, ice constitutes only two percent of the Great Lakes’ surface by this time of year. According to satellite imagery captured by NASA on April 20, nearly 34 percent of the Great Lakes remained covered in ice. This is the most ice ever observed on the Great Lakes in late April since highly detailed satellite imagery became available in the late 1970s.

For perspective, last year on April 20, only 3.6 percent of Lake Superior was frozen. In 2012, Lake Superior was completely ice-free by April 12. The last time Lake Superior froze over in 2009, ice cover melted down to 6.7 percent by April 21.