Great Lakes Ice Cover Is Scarce Right Now. What Does It Mean For the Rest of Winter?This visible satellite image on Jan. 13, 2021, shows parts of the ice-free Great Lakes that are unobscured by cloud cover.Ice cover usually ramps up this time of year, but won't happen in the near future.About halfway through January there is still precious little ice cover on the Great Lakes, and that could have significant impacts on the rest of winter and spring.
Currently, ice is only in shallower bays – in parts of Green Bay and Saginaw Bay – as well as in a few nearshore areas along Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Much of that has to due to the lack of lake-effect snow, which needs to have cold air moving over the lakes to develop.Marquette, Buffalo and Erie, all snowfall giants, have received a half inch of snow or less so far in January, typically the snowiest month for these locations.
This medium-range temperature outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center issued on Jan. 12, 2021, called for warmer-than-average temperatures over the Great Lakes.A lack of ice cover means more open water to release heat and moisture into any cold air that passes over the lakes. That could lead to an increased chance for lake-effect snow later in the season on lakes such as Erie that typically ice over by early February.
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