That Darn Global Warming

From jsonline, Milwaukee: The Great Lakes are officially — and finally — free of ice.
One of the coldest winters on record covered most of the Great Lakes with ice, including an entirely iced-over Lake Superior, and it's taken a while for it to melt.
But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration CoastWatch declared Thursday that the Great Lakes total ice cover finally reached 0%.
This year was the longest ice has been seen on Lake Superior in 40 years of NOAA records.
The Great Lakes hit the second-highest ice coverage on record on March 6 with 92% of the five lakes covered in ice. Temperatures in the Great Lakes region averaged 7 degrees below normal from Jan. 1 to April 1, according to AccuWeather Global Weather Center.
The last time ice coverage lasted almost this long was in 2003 when the last ice melted on May 29.
More than a third of the Great Lakes remained covered in ice by mid-April this year, and that caused problems for shipping. The Coast Guard was out on the lakes breaking up ice from early December through spring.
With ice just now gone, water temperatures are unseasonably low for this time of year, with temperatures as low as the 40s. Low lake temperatures will have a big impact on summer weather in communities along the Great Lakes, including Milwaukee. Forecasters say lower-than-normal water temperatures on the Great Lakes could lead to more widespread fog and less severe weather.  http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/brrrr-ing-on-summer-ice-on-lake-superior-is-finally-gone-b99290102z1-262914301.html