It's Memorial Day weekend and there's still ice on Lake Superior, see photos

Mlive.com ^ | May 25, 2014 | Fritz Klug

[cripplecreek]

MARQUETTE, MI -- Remember how bad the winter was? The polar vortex, inches upon inches of snow.

While the season has passed for most of us and Memorial Day weekend is underway, there are reminders in Michigan's Upper Peninsula of the historically cold and snowy winter.

There's still ice on Lake Superior.

As MLive's John "Gonzo" Gonzalez and I traveled the state looking for Michigan’s Best Taco, we noticed there is still ice cover on Lake Superior.

We were just sweating earlier this week in Kalamazoo, not because of the hot sauce but the temperatures. We were surprised there is still ice on the lakes with the temperatures in the mid 50s. As we drove east along highway US-41 and M-28, there as large floating chunks of ice, and light cover sometimes as far as we could see.

Is this common and how much longer will it last?

We called MLive meteorologist Mark Torregrossa while driving from Marquette to Sault Ste. Marie. As of May 15, 2014 Lake Superior is reportedly 14.48 percent covered in ice, more than any time in the past 40 years. Earlier this week, the lake still had 1.3 percent ice cover.

Related: Great Lakes waters dangerously cold: See how this year's temps compare

Torregrossa said ice on the Great Lakes stops getting measured at the end of May. In 1996, there was 0.1 percent ice cover on the Great Lakes.

"We could still have that small percentage of ice June 1," Torregrossa said, "or could be gone this week."

With temperatures continuing to rise, he thinks the ice may be gone this week.

We snapped photos of the last of the ice from this historic winter in Michigan and the Great Lakes. Take a look and say a fond goodbye to the last remainders of this historically cruel winter.

[Ouderkirk]

Wow...a life guard in ice water....must be 60 degrees out there...global warming

[crz]

Wasnt snowing at the pumping station?

[MarMema]

Just wow.

[umgud]

CA snowpack is reported to be 18% of normal. On my trip May 16, there was pretty scrappy/patchy snow up high, and some artificial at one of the ski runs. Overall it was nothing less than skimpy.

[logi_cal869]

While I respect your first-hand observation, your comment rubs the wrong way if the chart is indicative of facts

http://www.thestormking.com/Weather/Sierra_Snowfall/sierra_snowfall.html

Low snowfall seems a fairly regular occurrence.

[Kickass Conservative]

CA sits next the Pacific Ocean. If the Libs here are serious about the Drought, they could take all that Bullet Train to nowhere money and build Desalinization Plants.

We would literally be swimming in er, water...

I think they aren't doing it because someone told them it would involve Fracking.

[BenLurkin]

They better be wearing a full wetsuit.

[al_c]

And when it all melts, the great lakes are gonna flood the country! Run for your lives!!!!!

[gigster]

There’s still ice on Lake Charlevoix, here, in Northern Michigan.

[Bulwyf]

I heard it’s a drought out there at the moment.

[matt04]

[Bulwyf]

to heck with the wetsuit, I’d be going for a drysuit.

[Lakeshark]

There’s still ice on Lake Charlevoix, here, in Northern Michigan.

We live across from there on the Leelanau Peninsula. No ice left on the big lake, none on Lake Leelanau.

Superior I understand. Lake Charlevoix? I don't see how that's possible.

[libstripper]

Each is a vest pocket ocean. In the past, I’ve single handed my own sail boat across from Milwaukee, WI to Muskegon, MI a diastase of about 78 statute miles. Each passage took at least 12 hours and I was completely out of sight of land for about 6 of those 12 hours. Great lakes passages are some of the few out of sight of land passages you can make in under 24 hours. It’s a col experience. BTW the water, even in Lake Michigan, is damn cold all year long.

[PGalt]

WOW! On the backside road off Brockway Mtn. Drive along Lake Superior past Eagle Harbor and before Eagle River me and my cousin Steve decided to shed the clothes and go for a quick skinny-dip in Lake Superior. That was on a hot day in August about 15 years ago. Superior was very cold. If I recall correctly, it is one of the coldest, deepest freshwater lakes in the world.

R.I.P. Steve

[FatherofFive]

Growing up in Buffalo, we experienced some 'man made' climate change. The ice boom is a series of steel cables spanned across the Niagara River and anchored to the river bottom. The ice boom extends from the breakwall at Buffalo Harbor to the Canadian shore. It’s installed in order to reduce ice blockages in the river that can cause flooding and damage to the docks, and reduces the chance of jams for the hydro-electric projects near Niagara Falls.

When the boom is up and holding ice, it did seem to act as an 'air conditioner' when the wind blew the right way.

[cripplecreek]

I swam in Superior once in September which is really about as warm as it gets.

[PGalt]

The winter of 2014 will no doubt go down as one of the coldest and snowiest on record, as even here in Traverse City it looks like the Keweenaw outside. Winter is no stranger to the Copper Country, however, and it has been an integral part of the region’s character since its inception (and centuries before as well). Yet even through the bitterest cold and heaviest snows, the copper empire had to endure and so too did its hearty and rugged residents. While clearing our driveways every morning from another foot of snow, shoveling our roofs, and navigating icy and drifted roads may be a nuisance, it pales in comparison to what people of the region had to endure at the turn of the century. For a little perspective on yet another day of record setting cold I thought we’d take a look at a typical Copper Country winter as it looked a century ago. Enjoy!

http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/2014/02/scrapbook-fridays-bitter-cold-edition/

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

It’s pretty incredible.

[PGalt]

My mom (RIP) who was born and raised in traprock valley (outside of Calumet) on the Keweenaw peninsula said they had to cancel the 4th of July parade in Calumet one year because a snowstorm coming off Lake Superior dumped many inches of snow.