Two large deep northern inland lakes connected by the Inland Waterway, known for walleye, perch, and a genuine big fish reputation. Deeper than Houghton, later to freeze, and complicated by the current moving between them.
Access areas: Indian River, Topinabee, Alanson, Mullett Lake Village. Temperature record from Alpena County Regional Airport.
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Burt and Mullett are part of a connected chain, and chain of lakes systems are called out by the DNR as specifically unpredictable because water moves between the basins. The Indian River stretch between them carries current all winter and is never trustworthy. Both lakes are deep enough that they take real cold to lock up, and both have spring holes and inlet influence that keep local thickness inconsistent even in a hard winter.
There is no NOAA satellite ice cover product for inland lakes at this scale. For this water the only honest signal available from a distance is accumulated cold, and that is all this page claims to show.
The DNR flags chain systems as unpredictable for exactly this reason. The connecting water between Burt and Mullett is the hazard, not the open basins.
These are inland lakes with no NOAA ice product. Accumulated cold is the only signal here, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Both lakes are deep enough to resist early freeze up. Expect them to trail the shallow waters by weeks.
These answers describe how this water behaves and what remote data can or cannot tell you. They do not verify local thickness or safety.
They are deeper and hold more heat, so they need a longer cold run before broad freeze-up. The connected waterway adds moving-water complications on top of the depth.
No comparable NOAA lake-ice product exists for these inland lakes. The remote screen is accumulated cold and nearby weather, not observed local ice.
Moving water between the lakes. The Indian River connection and other inlet or spring influence can create conditions that do not match the open basin.
Planning a snow day instead of a hard-water trip? Compare Michigan cross-country ski regions, then use the live XC tool for the current snow signal.
These six waters behave differently enough that a plan built for one can be wrong on another. Depth, current, and wind exposure all change the picture.
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