The Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse covered in ice. Image: Amy Nichole Harris, Shutterstock
By Elizabeth Miller
This story originally appeared on Great Lakes Today and is republished here with permission.
One of ice climatologist Jia Wang’s biggest jobs is the annual ice cover prediction for the Great Lakes. He’s with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Michigan, which tracks ice cover throughout the winter.
This year, he expects the five lakes to have a 44% ice cover. That’s down from the historical average of 55%.
And Wang says that means a warmer, La Nina winter, with more lake effect snow. Cold winds can pick up moisture as they pass over the open water, dumping snow when they hit land.
He says Lakes Erie and Superior are projected to get the most ice cover this year — 82 and 54 percent, respectively.
But Wang cautions that his recent predictions have had mixed results.
In 2016, his prediction was pretty close. But last winter he missed badly. NOAA predicted a 55 percent ice cover for the Great Lakes — the reality was more like 20 percent.
Keep up with NOAA’s ice cover tracking here.