The mid-January Arctic blast brought frigid temperatures, helping to firm up a good quantity of ice on Lake Michigan. With the sunshine and more mild conditions over the past weekend, a lot of folks visited the lakeshore to take in the sights of the freshly formed ice with a lot of fantastic pictures: Among the phenomena we see this time of year are ice balls.

Ice coverage for all of the Great Lakes combined was 23.21% – the highest since February 26, 2022, when it was 56.1%. At the beginning of this month, ice coverage was less than 2% across all the lakes.

As Michigan faces winter weather and snow, with Arctic cold air in the region, there's a risk of hypothermia and frostbite. Here's what to know.