Michigan has experienced record low levels of ice cover on the Great Lakes this year, and scientists are highlighting why that’s important.
Melissa Widhalm is the associate director and regional climatologist at the Midwestern Regional Climate Center at Purdue University. She says all the changes are tied to an overall warming climate and warmer water temperatures. She says it’s important to notice all the implications.
“There’s some positives,” Widhalm said. “If you have less ice, maybe that’s great for shipping. But there are certainly some negatives. You have winners and losers. It can be really damaging to fish species that lay their eggs and expect that ice to be there to protect their eggs during those winter storms.”
University of Michigan research scientist Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome says the main reasons for less ice are the current El Nino weather pattern as well as the warm phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, both of which are preventing cold air from reaching the Great Lakes region.
In Detroit, an already dwindling season of black lake sturgeon fishing was canceled altogether because of safety concerns over low ice cover.
