Lake Michigan ice cover breaks 37-year-old record

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Lake Michigan's ice cover has set a record.

The federal government's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor reports that ice spread across 93.29 percent of the lake's surface area on Saturday. That eclipsed the previous high of 93.1 percent in 1977.

The 37-year-old record was broken just before moderating temperatures began shrinking Great Lakes ice.

At one point last week, the ice cover reached 92.2 percent for the entire five-lake system, second only to the 94.7 percent high reached in February 1979.

On Monday night, March 10th it had dropped to 83.9 percent. Lake Michigan fell to 77.1 percent Monday.

CLICK HERE for additional details on this story via the National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan.