How cold is Lake Ontario?

Lake Ontario Surface Temps (Nowcast). Animation · -00 · -03 · -06 · -09 · -12 · -15 · -18 · -21 · -24 · -27 · -30 · -33 · -36 · -39 · -42 · -45 · -48 · View animated gif (right click to download), Step Earlier | Later Surface Temps Lake Ontario Bottom Temps (Nowcast) ... read more

On the right you can see that half of Lake Ontario still remains as open water. Bonus, completely unrelated, feature: a mesovortex over western Lake Ontario is spotted if you zoom in. While extreme cold is without a doubt the most important ingredient when freezing a lake, calm conditions, particularly overnight, are what typically seal the deal. read more

Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and the smallest in surface area (7,340 sq mi, 18,960 km2), although it exceeds Lake Erie in volume (393 cu mi, 1,639 km3). It is the 14th largest lake in the world. When its islands are included, the lake has a shoreline that is 712 miles (1,146 km) long. read more