For the first time in 35 years, the Great Lakes are almost completely frozen over. This picture, taken February 9 at Chicago’s Montrose Harbor, shows the vast expanses of ice that cover the familiar Lake Michigan surface. As of February 13, it was estimated that 88.4 percent of the five big lakes were frozen over. The last time this much ice blanketed the Great Lakes was in 1996, when maximum ice coverage stretched over nearly 85 percent of the five bodies of water, according to the Midwest Regional Climate Center. The official record was set back in 1979, when ice enshrouded 94.7 percent of the lakes’ surfaces.
Photo by Mark Bauhs
