Theowl32
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- Dec 8, 2013
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Great Lakes Finally Ice-Free After Record Ice Longevity - SKYE on AOL
With summer just around the corner, for the first time in seven months the Great Lakes are officially free of ice.
While only weeks ago, chunks of ice could be seen floating on the lakes as residents and visitors flocked to the waters for Memorial Day, as of June 6, the lakes were classified as ice-free.
"This year is the longest we've seen ice on Lake Superior in our 40 years of records," physical scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration George Leshkevich said.
Following one of the coldest winter's on record for the region with temperatures from Jan. 1 to April 1 averaging seven degrees below normal, the Great Lakes hit their second highest ice coverage on record, reaching 92.19 percent on March 6, 2014.
Moving into the spring season, more than one-third or 38 percent, of the Great Lakes remained covered in ice in mid-April, causing major problems for the steel industry as the business relied on the waterways for shipping and transporting goods and materials.
"There are no years in the last 30 years that are even close to that, so it's very unusual this late in the season to have that much ice coverage," AccuWeather.com lead long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok said.
The last time the ice coverage on the lakes lasted nearly this long was in 2003, when the last of the ice cleared on May 29, according to Leshkevich.
However, moving farther into the spring season, temperatures began to increase in May, aiding in diminishing the ice coverage on the lakes.
"The air temperature, currents of the water and the water temperatures all play apart in melting the ice," Public Affairs Specialist for the 9th Coast Guard District in Cleveland, Levi Read said.
Since May 1, average temperatures in the Ironwood, Michigan, region have trended slightly above normal with daytime highs in the low 70s and overnight lows in the low 50s.
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Maybe that ice in the Antarctica is thinning. Now that group that got trapped in the ice can go down and prove their false claims.
With summer just around the corner, for the first time in seven months the Great Lakes are officially free of ice.
While only weeks ago, chunks of ice could be seen floating on the lakes as residents and visitors flocked to the waters for Memorial Day, as of June 6, the lakes were classified as ice-free.
"This year is the longest we've seen ice on Lake Superior in our 40 years of records," physical scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration George Leshkevich said.
Following one of the coldest winter's on record for the region with temperatures from Jan. 1 to April 1 averaging seven degrees below normal, the Great Lakes hit their second highest ice coverage on record, reaching 92.19 percent on March 6, 2014.
Moving into the spring season, more than one-third or 38 percent, of the Great Lakes remained covered in ice in mid-April, causing major problems for the steel industry as the business relied on the waterways for shipping and transporting goods and materials.
"There are no years in the last 30 years that are even close to that, so it's very unusual this late in the season to have that much ice coverage," AccuWeather.com lead long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok said.
The last time the ice coverage on the lakes lasted nearly this long was in 2003, when the last of the ice cleared on May 29, according to Leshkevich.
However, moving farther into the spring season, temperatures began to increase in May, aiding in diminishing the ice coverage on the lakes.
"The air temperature, currents of the water and the water temperatures all play apart in melting the ice," Public Affairs Specialist for the 9th Coast Guard District in Cleveland, Levi Read said.
Since May 1, average temperatures in the Ironwood, Michigan, region have trended slightly above normal with daytime highs in the low 70s and overnight lows in the low 50s.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe that ice in the Antarctica is thinning. Now that group that got trapped in the ice can go down and prove their false claims.
