Lake Erie almost frozen over

Mary Bowerman | USA TODAY Network

Lake Erie had 98% ice cover on Wednesday, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Lake Erie usually gets an extensive ice coverage because of how shallow the lake is, notes George Leshkevich with Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. He says Erie isn't the only lake experiencing the deep freeze.

"The Great Lakes as a whole experienced 85.4% ice cover as of yesterday," Leshkevich says.

In 2014, 90% of the Great Lakes were frozen solid, the highest level since 1979, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Leshkevich says 2012 and 2013 were mild years for ice cover, but 2014 was one of the worst and this year could be shaping up to be similar.

"Nobody expected 2014 to be as bad as it was, almost record breaking for ice cover and this year it's the same thing with these very cold temperatures," Leshkevich says.

While it may feel like a worse than normal winter, December and January marked the sixth-warmest winter on record, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), which has been tracking weather since 1895.

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