Low temperatures in recent weeks have quickened the annual chill of Lake Michigan, growing sheets of ice a month earlier than usual, disrupting holiday plans for local cruise lines and bringing winter chores for harbor masters and industrial shippers. The early pockets of ice have prompted one Chicago cruise line to cancel its New Year's Eve fireworks cruise for the first time in five years. The company that manages harbors on the lakefront has started efforts to protect their docks from ice. And in the northern part of Lake Michigan, the Coast Guard has been busy breaking through ice, making...