Lake Winnebago Ice at Waverly Beach Menasha. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Ice is becoming almost nonexistent on bodies of water in Northeast Wisconsin.
Now with the impending rain, will that deteriorate what’s left of our ice?
“The rain impacts I think should be pretty little to none,” said Meteorologist Kurt Kotenberg with the National Weather Service in Green Bay. “We’re looking at maybe a quarter of an inch or so of rain.
Kotenberg said the biggest factor that plays into whether the ice stays or goes could be strong southerly winds, particularly along Lake Michigan.
“As we start getting into Door County, near Sturgeon Bay on the Lake Michigan side, we could see some wave heights approach six, seven, eight feet this evening into Friday morning,” Kotenberg said.
As of Wednesday, Lake Michigan’s ice cover was about 7.6%. The last time we saw such scarce ice cover was back in 2016. Kotenberg said historically, our current ice cover is the lowest its been since the agency started tracking it 50 years ago.
This is due to weeks of unseasonably warm weather. A big driving factor for these well-above average temperatures is a strong El Niño.
“We’ve had 40 consecutive days with above-normal temperatures in Green Bay, from the middle of December to the middle of January, which is effectively unheard of,” Kotenberg said.
In fact, Dec. 1 to Jan. 31 was the warmest 60-day stretch during winter since recordkeeping began in 1886.
So, it’s not looking too good for solid ice to reform with the time we have left this winter season.
Kotenberg said, “This general El Niño pattern does look like it’s going to hold into spring, so we could have some cooler days, but I think a prolonged stretch of cold weather just really is not on the cards right now.”
To track the status of ice cover on Lake Michigan from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, click here.
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