(WXYZ) — Ice coverage on Lake Superior climbed to more than 90 percent on Friday, marking only the fifth time in the last 20 years that the lake has nearly frozen over.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), that ice coverage peaked at 94.91 percent on Friday, dropped to 94.65 percent on Saturday and dropped again to just over 87 percent by Sunday.
Comparing that to previous years, ice coverage was at just 51.67 percent at this time last year, just 5.10 percent in 2017 and 5.34 percent in 2016.
Colder weather in 2015 had Lake Superior ice coverage at 80 percent on March 10, 2015, and earlier coverage that year had been at 95.45 percent Feb. 28, 2015 and 91.32 coverage on March 10, 2014.
In all, Lake Superior has only had 100 percent ice coverage one time since 1973.
Currently, the entire Great Lakes has 71 percent ice coverage with Lake Michigan at 34.24 percent as of March 10, Lake Huron at 89.90 percent, Lake Erie at 92.43 percent and Lake Ontario at 11.87 percent.
Lake St. Clair is at 97.63 percent, but had several days at 100 percent ice coverage in late January through February.
