Here’s the latest plot:
http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/glsea/cur/glsea_cur.png
It’s actually gone down slightly from yesterday’s 88.8%. What they’re not telling you, though, is that the method of calculating coverage is quite different from the plots we were seeing last year. This year they’re showing areas that were 100% covered last year as being not fully covered this year. This is why there are different shades of gray (50?). I bet that there is more ice than last year if last year’s method were used.
Lake Superior never completely thawed, from LAST winter, did it? There were ice floes WAY late in the season.
Lake Eire has so completely frozen, that even large jet airplanes could use it for an emergency landing field. Not that there would not be a LOT of ‘splainin’ to do with the FAA, but from an engineering standpoint, it is feasible.
