I think the past two winters being so mild for most of the Great Lakes( I know 22-23 wasn't mild from Minnesota on west though)along with such a warm Fall last year might have allowed the warmer water to get a little deeper in the lakes. It hasn't been a warm winter at all but it seems like it's taking extra long for the lakes to cool down with the exception of Erie but that's a shallow lake. I mean, December was right around normal here with some very cold balanced out by a few very mild days at the end of the month, January had below normal temperatures with definitely some very extreme cold mixed in that you don't see every winter, yet Lake Huron still has some 40 degree water temps in the deep part. I can't remember seeing that happen when it hasn't been a mild winter.