Great Lakes Ice Coverage or Lack Thereof

I don’t think it will be a year for visiting the ice caves in Wisconsin. There isn’t enough ice yet and it’s doubtful we’ll have enough consistently cold temperatures to freeze it solid enough for travel.  I guess I’ll have to cross my fingers for a visit to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore next year!

We don’t have ice around Grand Marais and the harbor has barely been frozen this year. We’ve had stretches of cold weather but it’s been followed by unseasonably warm weather.  It’s been a strange winter when it comes to weather.

According to Paul Huttner’s article the mild winter is producing below average ice cover… As of Sunday, 13.5 percent of the Great Lakes is covered with ice… well below the historical median of about 30 percent for this week of the year.

The lack of ice is making for a different kind of situation around Madeline Island this year, here’s an interesting article about it.