The Laurentian Great Lakes developed their most extensive ice cover in over a decade during winter 1994 [December-February 1993/94 (DJF 94)]. Extensive midlake ice formation started the second half of January, about 2 weeks earlier than normal. Seasonal maximal ice extent occurred in early February, again about 2 weeks earlier than normal. Winter 1994 maximum (normal) ice coverages on the Great Lakes are Lake Superior 96% (75%), Lake Michigan 78% (45%), Lake Huron 95% (68%), Lake Erie 97% (90%), and Lake Ontario 67% (24%). Relative to the prior 31 winters (1963-93), the extent of seasonal maximal ice cover for winter 1994 for the Great Lakes taken as a unit is exceeded by only one other winter (1979); however, other winters for individual Great Lakes had similar maximal ice covers. Anomalously strong anticyclonic circulation over the central North Pacific (extending to the North Pole) and an abnormally strong polar vortex centered over northern Hudson Bay combined to produce a circulation pattern that brought frequent air masses of Arctic and polar origin to the eastern third of North America. New records were set for minimum temperatures on 19 January 1994 at many locations in the Great Lakes region. A winter severity index consisting of the average November-February air temperatures averaged over four sites on the perimeter of the Great Lakes
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