Environment
The Great Lake's Massive Ice Cap Could Bring a Cooler Summer
The expanding sheet could set a modern record for coverage.
This year, Canada opened the fridge door on America and forgot to shut it. Blasts of arctic air have turned the northern states into ice-crusted wonderlands, a place where it's possible to stroll over Lake Superior and frolic in crystalline caves.
This was not the case at this time in 2013, however. Whereas back then you could swim in all of the Great Lakes – that is, if you were mentally unstable or had just drunk a bottle of schnapps – nowadays there's scarcely a patch of open water to be found. The stark difference in the amount of lake ice is clear in this side-by-side comparison from both Februaries; look in particular at the total surface freezing of Lake Superior and Lake Huron: