Great Lakes record low ice coverage; warmer than average winter
MILWAUKEE – A decline of ice cover on the five Great Lakes is becoming a normal occurrence over the years. NOAA has been documenting this since 1973.
Studies showed between 1973 and 2017, there has been a significant drop in average ice cover during the winter months from Dec. 1 through April 30. The decline is approximately 70%.
This winter, up to Feb. 13, 2023, there is only 7% ice coverage on the Great Lakes. This marks an all-time record low amount!
Around this time of year, the Great Lakes should have 35% to 40% ice coverage. A warmer than average winter season is one of the reasons why ice has not been able for stay and form over the bodies of water.
On average, maximum ice coverage occurs from mid-February through early March. Warming effects caused by humans is only one factor in the equation of ice loss. Others include “long-term patterns of climate variability over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans,” according to NASA.
Speaking of warming, check out the temperatures in December, January, and February this winter season in Milwaukee. Unseasonably warm temperatures are a factor showing why ice cover isn’t as high this season.
Extended forecasts are hinting at additional days above average mixed with some below average days wrapping up the end of the month.
– FOX6 News Milwaukee (February 24, 2023)
Obituary: Capt. Robert J. Libby Jr.
Robert J. Libby Jr., 90, of French River, MN, died Monday, January 30, 2023 at Waterview Shores in Two Harbors.
On June 11, 1950, he signed on the Interlake Steamship Co. bulk freighter Jay C. Morse as an ordinary seaman/deckhand. Little did he realize this would start a maritime career spanning 42 years. In 1958 he received his unlimited tonnage 1st Class Pilot license. He sailed for many of Great Lakes steamship companies including, Republic Steel Lake Fleet, Reiss S.S. Co., Cleveland Cliffs, Medusa, and Columbia before retiring in 1992 as master of the S.S. Charles M. Beeghly, Interlake S.S. Co.
In February 1952 he enlisted in the US Navy, serving during the Korean War as QMSN aboard the USS Andromeda, aka 15, in the West Pacific area: Korea, Japan, China. In April 1954 Bob returned to the States to attend submarine school in New London, CT. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the USS Batfish 310 Squadron in Key West, FL where he completed his enlistment and was honorably discharged on February 26, 1956 as QM2SS.
Bob was born April 15, 1932 to Robert J. and Florence (Swanson) Libby at Miners Hospital in Crosby. Growing up on the north shore of Serpent Lake, he attended Franklin Elementary School and graduated in the Class of 1950 from Crosby-Ironton High School. In 1952 he married his high school sweetheart, Naomi Ringhand, and in 1959 they purchased land in the French River area on the North Shore of Lake Superior. They built their home in 1960 and filled it with 5 children.
He was a Life Member of the VFW Post 132 Duluth, American Legion Post 557 Deerwood, U.S. Submarine Veterans, Lake Superior Base- Duluth, Korean War Veteran’s Assoc., 60 year member of French River Lutheran Church, where he served on the church council, International Shipmaster Assoc- Twin Ports Lodge 12, serving as Chaplain for over a decade, Pequaywan Area Trailblazers snowmobile club where he served terms as trustee, the St. Louis County Historical Society, Great Lakes Historical Society, American Truck Historical Society, and taught snowmobile safety courses for over a decade in the French River area.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the French River Lutheran Church or the Seafarers Ministry, 2024 W 3rd St, Duluth, 55806.
The Great Lakes aren’t quite as frosty this season. FOX6 News Milwaukee image, February 24
