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Stunning photo shows total Great Lakes ice cover at 69 percent

Posted at 6:51 AM, Feb 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-13 10:05:58-05

With Michigan's winter in full swing, the Great Lakes are seeing higher than average ice cover when compared to the average ice concentration of the last 44 years.

According to the NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), the total Great Lakes ice cover as of Monday is at 69 percent.

A stunning photo from NASA's polar-orbiting Terra satellite shows the entire Great Lakes and their respective ice coverage. It's most visible on Lake Erie, which is leading the five Great Lakes with 92 percent ice coverage.

Lake Huron has 81 percent ice coverage, followed by Lake Superior at 77 percent, Lake Michigan at 49 percent and Lake Ontario at 14 percent.

Also, for Lake St. Clair, it was at 99.48 percent ice coverage as of Feb. 10, as you can see in the photo above.

When looking at the GLERL averages over the last 44 years, all of the lakes except Lake Ontario are seeing above average ice cover this year.

In the photos below, the red line shows the 2018 ice coverage while the blue line shows the average from 1973-2017.