After a month of frigid conditions, Lake Erie's ice cover is fading fast

CLEVELAND - The landscape on Lake Erie is changing fast and viewers are wondering about it. I've received several e-mails about the state of lake ice in the past week. Here is one of them...

QUESTION: Barb in Malvern asks: "Want to know if Lake Erie froze over this year or not. Am in a disagreement with someone in Florida about it. He says the news there says it was completely frozen over Feb 14 of this year."

ANSWER: Well, Barb, back on Feb. 13, a newspaper out of Erie, Pennsylvania asserted that the 241-mile-long lake was "virtually frozen over from one end to the other." This for the first time in 14 years! The story was quickly picked up by the national media. But was the lake frozen over? Notice the word virtual in the sentence above. That's a fun word that literally means "in essence but NOT in FACT."

Take a look at the photos included with this article. These are high resolution satellite photos taken from space. As long as the skies are clear, they give a bird's-eye view of the ice conditions on the lake in amazing detail. Notice the photo from February 4th of this year. There is a lot of ice on the lake, but it is NOT completely frozen over. There are areas of open water along the north shore and over deeper water in the eastern basin between Erie and Buffalo. the photo from February 8th shows a similar picture.

Another photo, taken March 3, shows the results of strong northwest winds. Most of the ice is firmly pushed up against the south shore of the lake. The northern half of the lake is completely ice free. Yes, that means Lake Effect snow could occur again if conditions were right!

The last photo, from March 8, shows the effects of the recent warmer temperatures. Notice the cracks in the ice that have formed in just a few days. The ice is melting rapidly and Spring is on the way.