Great Lakes Ice Cover Nearly Non-Existent

Great Lakes ice cover is nearly non-existent, lowest to start a year in 50 years of records

GREAT LAKES, U.S./Canada (KVRR/CBS NEWS) – A warm start to the winter season has left the Great Lakes virtually ice-free –with their lowest ice cover to kick off a new year in at least 50 years.

On New Year’s Day, only .35% of the great lakes were covered in ice.

That’s the lowest on record for this point in winter since 1973, and well below the historical average of nearly 10%.

The data comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

This year’s missing ice in the Great Lakes adds to a growing trend of winter ailments plaguing the U.S.

That includes dwindling snowpacks in the west to an ongoing snow drought in the northeast, all becoming more common due to warming temperatures from the climate crisis.

Since record-keeping began in 1973, researchers have found the Great Lakes have been experiencing a massive decline in ice, with the peak coverage dropping by about five-percent each decade.