On the bright side, no more lake-effect snow!

Thought it was one never-ending crap-fest of a freezing-cold, snowy, icy winter? Snowmobilers who didn't kill yourselves, this isn't a trick question - but you especially should pay attention, since open water is not your friend:

Ice cover on the Great Lakes has declined more than 30 percent since the 1970s, leaving the world's largest system of freshwater lakes open to evaporation and lower water levels, according to scientists associated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Makes sense. Then it skews.

They're concerned about how the milder winter freeze may affect the environment. But they're also trying to come to terms with a contradiction — the same climate factors that might keep lake ice from freezing might make freezing more likely if lake levels drop due to evaporation.

Forget the whole scientific paradox - they lost me at "milder winter freeze".