Fractured Ice: Lake Erie
A significant chunk of ice fractured across Lake Erie last weekend, where an 80+ mile long crevice was seen from space, and nearly stretched from Ontario, Canada, to Cleveland, OH. A social media – drone video (below) captures the fractured ice along Lake Erie.
Per NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), ice coverage over Lake Erie was hovering around 95% during early February 2026. Refer to the GLERL graphic that highlights this winter season’s above average ice coverage and how it compares to its historical average.
Using the high refresh rate from the GOES-19 ABI GeoColor, one can see the rapid development of the ice cracking in the middle of Lake Erie on 8 February 2026. The elongated fracture exhibits a northeast to southwest orientation.
GOES -19 ABI GeoColor from ~14-18Z, 8 February 2026
Polar-orbiting satellites also captured the event, where the VIIRS visible (375-m) multi-day animation shows multiple cracks along Lake Erie through 10 February 2026. The lake ice shifts northwestward over the time period.
VIIRS Visible (I-1), 0.64 um, daytime overpasses from 7-10 February 2026
During the last quarter phase of the lunar cycle, nighttime visible imagery observed the reflected moonlight off the lake ice. A VIIRS NCC image comparison shows a before (8 February 2026) and after (9 February 2026) the lake ice started to break up.
VIIRS Near-Constant-Contrast (NCC) nighttime overpasses from 8-9 February 2026
As NWS WFO Cleveland stated below, these type of situations can endanger the general public (e.g., people left stranded on moving ice sheets, ice jams that lead to flooding) and marine vessels that traverse along Lake Erie.