What do you upper Midwesterner think of this ?

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With no end in sight, the winter of 2014 rages on, ushering in frigid Arctic air and dumping record-breaking snow and ice on much of the nation. This season, ice coverage on Lake Superior has exceeded other measurements in recent history.

"By the long shot this is the most ice we've had on Lake Superior in 20 years," Associate Professor Jay Austin of the Large Lakes Observatory in Duluth, Minn., said.

Other than the ice jam worries, the ice coverage on the Great Lakes, specifically on Lake Superior, is mounting concerns for the region's climate.

"With all of this ice, all the sunlight that hits the surface of the lake is going to get bounced back out into space, so it's going to take longer to get warmer this spring and summer," Austin said. "The lake is going to just start warming this year when it will start cooling off for next year."

This could bring a relatively cool year for the communities surrounding the lake.

However, the silver lining of the massive ice coverage is that perhaps it can prevent lake water levels from lowering like they did just last year.

By Kristen Rodman, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

February 20, 2014; 4:19 AM

Major winter storm today to bring 4-18 inches to IA/E MN/NW WI today and heavy rain/floods to the lower Great Lakes.

Please guys send some wintery photos or anyone dealing with heavy rain/floods some pictures and keep us updated with observations!

With the recent cooling trend in the models, it's looking like PDX (and possibly other PNW stations) have a shot at a top 5 cold February. 

PDX's top 5:

1956: 35.8

1989: 36.0

1950: 38.8

1949: 39.1

1969: 39.7

February 2014 so far: 38.2

Plugging in the numbers from Mark's 7-day (which is on the warm side of things right now), brings PDX to 39.7 by the 26th. 

If things trend cooler, which certainly seems possible, 2014 could find itself in the #5 spot.