Thursday, February 19, 2015

Frozen... Lake Ontario

Today after work I grabbed my camera and drove up to the lake with Aaron to see how much of it had frozen. I have always wanted to see the lakeshore in winter. I forget so often that we live on the edge of a Great Lake.

I had heard that Lake Ontario was 75% frozen over. but it did not appear 75% frozen to me.

The only thing that struck me, was that the beach was twice it's normal width. It looked like Hoth in Return of the Jedi.

So I looked into it online. Turns out the lake WAS only about 40% frozen, way behind the other Great Lakes early in the month. All together the Great Lakes were 88% frozen over.

With the recent Arctic blast, Lake Ontario became 79% frozen in a very short period of time. "More than 4,700 square miles of ice formed over the Great Lakes in just one night on Tuesday."

Looking at this satelite map, I can see the ice more toward the center of the lake than the shore (far right). So that explains why it doesn't look 75% frozen from Charlotte Beach.

One thing is for sure... it is bitter cold and it's been that way all month.

Everything seems to be covered in a sugar candy coating of ice with heaps of snow everywhere else. Up by the lake, the snow and ice glows blue and orange as the sun sets.

I am glad we made our way up there to see the sight.

Even if I couldn't feel my legs by the time we left!

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