Overview
- NOAA data show total Great Lakes ice at about 43.2% as of Jan. 26, a rapid jump tied to an entrenched Arctic air mass.
- Lake Erie is reported around 92–94% ice-covered and could freeze over entirely if the current cold pattern holds.
- Each lake is running above its long-term average for late January, with Lake Michigan up roughly 21% in a week and about 16% above normal for the date.
- Lake Superior is about 30% covered, Lake Ontario is near 17%, and nearshore zones like Saginaw Bay and the Straits of Mackinac show extensive fast ice.
- Expanded ice is already curbing lake-effect moisture and may set up a colder, drier, delayed spring along the lakeshores as the cold persists through the week.