Great lakes freeze
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2003 10:06 pm
Ice threatens to cover Lake Superior
HOUGHTON, Mich. (AP) — Record-shattering cold temperatures threaten to freeze massive Lake Superior's surface for the first time in more than two decades.
"The lake is fairly well covered," said Craig Evanego, an ice forecaster with the National Ice Center in Washington. "It's the thickest its been in years."
Lake Superior last froze completely in 1979, and this year's ice cover is the most since 1996-97, lake watchers said.
Ice currently covers more than 90% of the greatest of the Great Lakes, Evanego said. In some areas, the covering is a scant inch or so, but vast portions of the big lake have 12 to 28 inches of ice, according to the National Ice Center.
Lakes Huron and Erie are ice-covered, with much of shallow Lake Erie buried under 28 or more inches of ice, the center reported. Northern Lake Michigan is frozen, but the mid- to lower section is open, other than coastal areas.
Relentless cold temperatures are responsible for the ice buildup. While snow swept across much of mid- and lower Michigan early Wednesday, Upper Peninsula residents again bundled up against record lows.
"It's more than just a little bit cold here," said Dave Petrovich, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Marquette County's Negaunee Township.
Temperatures at Houghton County Memorial Airport hit minus 17 degrees at 8 a.m. Wednesday, shattering the day's previous record of minus 5, set in 1960.
Petrovich also said minus 16 in Marquette County set a new low.
At the western tip of Lake Superior, Duluth, Minn., saw a low of 12 below Wednesday.
HOUGHTON, Mich. (AP) — Record-shattering cold temperatures threaten to freeze massive Lake Superior's surface for the first time in more than two decades.
"The lake is fairly well covered," said Craig Evanego, an ice forecaster with the National Ice Center in Washington. "It's the thickest its been in years."
Lake Superior last froze completely in 1979, and this year's ice cover is the most since 1996-97, lake watchers said.
Ice currently covers more than 90% of the greatest of the Great Lakes, Evanego said. In some areas, the covering is a scant inch or so, but vast portions of the big lake have 12 to 28 inches of ice, according to the National Ice Center.
Lakes Huron and Erie are ice-covered, with much of shallow Lake Erie buried under 28 or more inches of ice, the center reported. Northern Lake Michigan is frozen, but the mid- to lower section is open, other than coastal areas.
Relentless cold temperatures are responsible for the ice buildup. While snow swept across much of mid- and lower Michigan early Wednesday, Upper Peninsula residents again bundled up against record lows.
"It's more than just a little bit cold here," said Dave Petrovich, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Marquette County's Negaunee Township.
Temperatures at Houghton County Memorial Airport hit minus 17 degrees at 8 a.m. Wednesday, shattering the day's previous record of minus 5, set in 1960.
Petrovich also said minus 16 in Marquette County set a new low.
At the western tip of Lake Superior, Duluth, Minn., saw a low of 12 below Wednesday.