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Ice coverage on Great Lakes ten times greater than this time last year

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NOAA

With the persistent cold weather across the Midwest, the Great Lakes have ten - times as much ice cover as they did at this time last year

The National Weather Service reports that ice coverage across all the Great Lakes is currently at 20.7%.

Tim Locker is with the National Weather Service in Gaylord.

“Compared to last year we were only at 2.2%. There was just a little bit of ice in northern and southern Green Bay and a little bit in Saginaw Bay. Go back another year and we were only at 0.7%, so hardly any ice at all.”

Locker said the cold weather is responsible.

“We’re just in a long stretch of cold weather allowing the ice to form. The last couple of years the lakes hardly froze at all which was a lot less ice than normal.”

Locker said the cold spell responsible for the ice should let up over the weekend.

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