jriddle@thealpenanews.com
News Photo by Julie Riddle
A photographer captures morning sunlight over recently-formed ice at Seagull Point in Rogers City on Tuesday.
ALPENA The big lake is blue instead of white and opinions are mixed as to whether that’s a good thing.
After several months of gentle winter weather, Lake Huron has almost none of the crisp ice cover that often graces it this time of year.
Ice is coming, experts say. In the meantime, some worry that the lack of ice threatens valued parts of Northeast Michigan, while others say the open waters of early 2021 offer a possible break from years of high water damage.
Ice cover in Great Lakes less this year
Lake Huron at 3rd lowest recorded point
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The shoreline facing Wild Fowl Bay is covered in ice stretching to the island in the bay. Despite this, ice cover in the Great Lakes is at one of its lowest known recorded points. (Robert Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune)
Ice cover on the Great Lakes is at one of its lowest known recorded points, with it potentially having consequences for the shoreline later on this year.
According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the ice cover on the Great Lakes is at its second lowest point since NOAA started keeping records in 1973, standing at 13%. Lake Huron in particular is at its third lowest point since that time.
KEY CONCEPTS
While there is significant year-to-year variability in ice coverage, trends show that annual maximum ice coverage on each of the Great Lakes has declined over time. Across all the Great Lakes, the annual maximum ice cover is, on average, 22% lower than it was a half-century ago. Furthermore, ice coverage is becoming less reliable, with more frequent years of extremely low ice coverage (like this year).
The decline in lake ice coverage is driven by warming air and water temperatures due to climate change. The lake ice season is also contracting in many cases, with lakes now tending to freeze over later and thaw out sooner.
J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue
Hope is waning for those who hoped to stick an ice shanty on Little Traverse Bay this winter.
The same goes for nearby Torch and Elk lakes, two large inland waters adjacent to the bay. At the height of Michigan winter, all three are so devoid of ice, fishing guide Jim Chamberlin said, “you could launch a boat out there.”
On the kettle lakes of Southeast Michigan, thin ice has law enforcement officials responding to an uptick in on-water emergencies and urging residents to think twice before venturing out to skate, fish or snowmobile.
Jim Casella has been a private snowplow driver for more than 20 years and relies on nature s flakes to help make a winter living.
An ideal winter for Casella, 38, owner of Erie-based Liberty Snow Service, 1527 Liberty St., is one in which the Erie region is blanketed by 3 inches of powdery stuff most days.
As for this winter? It s been so-so, Casella said. It s been OK. We ll make do.
With the exception of two significant lake-effect snowstorms, the Erie region has encountered a relatively mild winter season.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, are calling for La Nina weather patterns to continue to impact Erie region weather for the remainder of winter.