Great Lakes Ice Expanding Once Again!

With temperatures this month running almost 10° below normal, this February is actually averaging colder than the relentless arctic chill of last February.  As a result, the Great Lakes have iced over significantly.  Check out this satellite pic courtesy of NASA and NOAA from Tuesday:



The Great Lakes are now a little more than 85%  covered in ice.  This is the second most ice coverage on the Great Lakes since 1994... only surpassed by last year's ice coverage which peaked at 92.5% in the first week of March.  Here's a snapshot showing ice conditions through the Great Lakes system from last February:

And here's a similar image from Tuesday showing the amount of ice across the Great Lakes:

With the frigid temperatures in the forecast for the rest of this week and even into next week, it will be interesting to see of the ice coverage this winter ends up challenging that of last year, or maybe even the all time record of 94.7% set in 1979!!