And a chilly fall — and an early start to next winter — and beyond.
At least one Great Lakes ice researcher thinks the brutal winter of 2013-14 will lead to a colder-than-usual summer locally that could continue into a chilly fall and an early start to next winter — and beyond, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The reason? Heading into May, the Great Lakes combined remain 26% ice-covered, with Lake Superior still more than half-blanketed in ice. By comparison, at this time last spring the lakes were less than 2% covered with ice.
The remaining levels of ice cover are amazing, said Jia Wang, an ice climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.
“This prolonged winter will affect summer temperatures. This summer will be cold, and then a cooler fall,” he said.
“All that sunlight that would normally heat up the water is just bouncing back up into space,” said Jay Austin, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Large Lakes Observatory.
Crippling start to shipping season
“The factories can’t do their work without coal to run their power plants,” says Captain Michael Davanzo in this video. “I do know that 79 percent of the iron ore that’s used in steel production in the United States comes out of Lake Superior. So when you close that waterway down, it has s significant impact on this economy.”
“Eight Great Lakes states rely on movement in the Great Lakes shipping industry, both U.S. and Canada,” says Davanzo. “So if you look at the size, and the amount of people, that rely on the movement of ships around here, you begin to understand how integral and how important this is to everybody’s lives.”
The persistent ice led to “an absolutely crippling start to the shipping season,” said Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers Association, a trade group representing Great Lakes cargo haulers.
Icebreakers are still escorting convoys of barges hauling iron ore, cement and other products through the ice-jammed lakes, he said.
Iron ore shipments in March were down 43% over last year.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014305010053
Thanks to Greg for this link
“It is incredible that such news is suppressed,” says Greg. “Mention global cooling and most people are ready to send you to the “home”.