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Mild end to winter expected with lack of Great Lakes ice

An ag meteorologist says arctic air in mid-January was enough to cause ice formation across the Great Lakes, but it will be short-lived.

Michigan state climatologist Jeff Andresen tells Brownfield the milder-than-normal start to winter delayed most ice coverage.

“It was back up to 12 percent coverage over the whole Great Lakes basin that’s close to what is normal for this time of year,” he says.  “It had been almost none up until then, but with that one week we added probably a good 10 percent ice coverage.”

He says the warmer lake temperatures insulated most of Michigan from the frigid temperatures and the outlook for additional winter storms in the region is limited.

“But it doesn’t mean that we’re going be exclusively mild and dry like with a lot of December was,” he says.  “It probably won’t be as severe as what we saw, and I think maybe by mid-February would be a guess when we might see the next pattern change, it probably will be temporary though.”

Andresen says snowfall totals for the season will likely be lower than average and the lack of Great Lakes ice could bring an early spring.

Forecasts are for El Nino to possibly become neutral by this summer which Andresen says could mean mild growing conditions and favorable crop yields this fall.