BAY CITY, MI -- Lake Huron is almost entirely covered in ice. It is only 2.7 percent away from its historical ice-cover record.

Officially, Lake Huron was 95.8 percent covered with ice as of the evening of Thursday, Feb. 27. The highest ice concentration ever recorded on Lake Huron was 98.5 percent in 1994, although consistent ice-cover records only date back to 1973. Last year, on February 27, Lake Huron had 94.1 percent ice.

So Lake Huron is actually slightly ahead of last year in making ice.

From the air on Friday, Saginaw Bay was locked in a deep freeze of surface ice and anglers were venturing miles out onto the bay. However, there was a ribbon of open water in one area offshore near Tawas Point.

With below zero temperatures and light winds into the weekend, ice should continue to increase on Lake Huron.

But I feel it should be pretty easy in 2015 to set a new record for ice cover on Lake Huron. Temperatures are not going above freezing over Lake Huron until this coming Tuesday at the earliest. Even next Tuesday, melting temperatures will occur over Lake Huron for just a few hours, and over just the southern part of Lake Huron. Then another cold blast of air will hit late next week.

Last year's peak ice on Lake Huron happened on March 7 at 96.3 percent.

I feel we will set the record ice cover this weekend or late next week. If we don't do it by March 7 this year, though, we probably won't make it. After March 7, it will inch above freezing often enough that ice will have a hard time increasing in coverage.

I don't know what kind of party we should have when we set the record, but let's celebrate somehow. We may not have this conversation again for another 20 years.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them below.

MLive Chief Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa has been forecasting Michigan weather for more than 25 years. He's been chief meteorologist at three television news stations in Michigan, and he's an avid gardener and hunter. Email him at mtorregr@mlive.com and find him on Facebook at facebook.com/mark.torregrossa and Twitter @weathermanmark