Experts Weigh in on Lack of Lake Superior Ice

Talking to the National Weather Service About Lake Ice

This winter has been warmer than average, and that has meant far less ice on Lake Superior than in years past.

Lake Superior has less than one percent ice concentration, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Inland lakes become ice covered in a completely different process from Lake Superior.
Experts say the strong El Nino is a contributing factor, but year to year temperature
fluctuations can have dramatic effects on Lake Superior ice.

“The El Nino probably has something to do with it,” said Dan Miller, Science and Operations Officer with the National Weather Service office in Duluth. “But just in the last 10 years, we’ve had two of our coldest winters on record and we’ve also had some of the warmest winters on record.”

Duluth’s winter so far is the thirteenth warmest on record.