"for the first time this century..." You've got to love the news hyperbole.
"Some 94.7 percent of Lake Superior froze over in 1979, effectively a complete icing. Professor Jay Austin, also of the University of Minnesota's Large Lakes Observatory, said he expects ice coverage to exceed the 20-year-record of 91 percent on the 31,700-square-mile lake before spring."
Ok. It's the coldest it's been in 20-35 years but (as an older guy) that's not extraordinary and FWIW, I didn't like the cold then either.