What bullsh**t. Lake Erie doesn't freeze until well into January on average. This is shown in the long term (1973-2002) average.
I really hate the climate change debate. Your article was just a sleight of hand by a rando government scientist.
Usually when air this cold comes down into the eastern U.S... it's JANUARY and yes, the lake is more frozen by that point. But the cold came early this year after what had been an average to slightly colder than average late fall (November/earlier December).
There was no "warm" time.. just relatively warmer... as in warmer than it is now that an impressive cold air mass has arrived.
The rest of the article was just bullsh**t made up by the reporter like "and ZOMFGZ REMEMBER THE HURRICANES!?" (after a record long hurricane drought).
Reporting on this subject is so full of nothing but slimy bullsh**t.