The Great Lakes ice cover now at 77%, the most since 1996.

Lake Superior 91.6753%

Lake Michigan 56.3514%

Lake Huron 84.5919%

Lake Erie 92.6251%

Lake Ontario 30.7342%, the weighted average 76.93%

The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are already at the greatest ice cover since 1996 with a good part of the winter still left to go.  The average for the last 40 years is an ice maximum of 51.4%. See fig:

Here is a picture of the ice cover for Feb 4. Brr, and arctic blasts keep coming!! It will take a long time to melt all this ice come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) so you can take a dip.

Updated as of Feb 11: https://lenbilen.com/2014/02/12/great-lakes-ice-cover-now-at-86-7-the-most-since-1994-we-are-in-a-cooling-trend/