When I was a kid, my father worked at the Bethlehem Steel plant, and they could only work when the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie, and seaway were not frozen. Frozen years like this hit many families like a drought hit farmers whose crops died. That seems like a strange parallel, but accurate.
They tried "ice dams" in the spring for a while so the eastern end of Erie by Buffalo did not get so badly 'clogged' as it emptied into the Niagara River, but that was shortening the growing season all the way back to Dunkirk, hurting the orchards and vineyards there. The air coming off the lake was crossing corralled icebergs instead of water, and delaying Spring.
Compared to weather, we are very small.
It sure is pretty though!