Ice Machine: How Shoreline Ice Forms on the Great Lakes

Posted on by farlane

Lake Michigan Ice by Tim Wenzel

Snowball Fight Anyone?, photo by Timothy Wenzel

One of my favorite photo blogs is the Earth Science Picture of the Day from NASA. In Wednesday’s blog, Timothy wrote:

This photo, taken on January 24, 2013, illustrates how ice on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore can achieve heights of many feet; by accretion of floating snowball-size ice balls thrown upward by wave action. The maximum wave height (crest to trough) on Lake Michigan on this day was approximately 6 ft (2 m). What results is a landscape that looks almost volcanic. Click here to see video of this phenomenon. Note that the lake itself is a slurry of ice and water.

Definitely check Tim’s video out! See the photo background bigtacular and see more in Timothy’s work including more photos from the day in his Weather Underground gallery.

More EPOD awesomeness on Michigan in Pictures!

Ice Kingdom

Posted on by farlane

DSC08043RP

DSC08043RP, photo by Scott Glenn

Incredible what wind, water and way too cold can do! More about the St. Joseph lighthouse on Michigan in Pictures.

Check this out on black and see more icy goodness in Scott’s lighthouse slideshow.

Ice Climbing in Munising

Posted on by farlane

Ice Climing in the Pictured Rocks

HMR Ice in Pictured Rocks, photo by Luke Tikkanen

The abundant waterfalls that make the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore such a treat in summertime turn it into an amazing mecca for ice climbing every winter. Since 1983, Down Wind Sports has organized and promoted the Michigan Ice Festival in Munising. The event brings some of the top ice climbers in the world and features product demos, presentations, intro to climbing and plenty of climbing socials. 2013 dates are January 31 – February 3, so consider a trip north next weekend!

Today’s photo is the cover of the forthcoming edition of An Ice Climbers Guide To Munising Michigan by Jon Jugenheimer and Bill Thompson. There will be a release party for the book next Thursday (Jan 31) at Sydney’s in Munising. They explain:

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has been called one of the premier ice climbing areas in the country. Nestled on the southern shore of Lake Superior, it is renowned for its beautiful setting and phenomenal ice routes. This edition An Ice Climbers Guide To Munising Michigan offers the most thorough and up-to-date information, maps, and descriptions of the major ice climbing formations.

Click through for more about the book including some more great photos. This climb is known as HMR, out by Grand Portal Point in the Pictured Rocks. Here’s a panoramic photo of the climb in relation to the Portal.

Ice Arch: Cold grips Michigan

Posted on by farlane

Ice Arch

Ice Arch by adonyvan, photo by adonyvan

Got to love what a lake like Superior can carve out of ice.

Right now the coldest air of the last 4 years has settled in across Michigan. Metro Detroit will see wind chills below zero today, Bay City/Saginaw and the surrounding area faces single digit temps and wind chills 15-20 degrees below zero, and it’s just 1 degree right now in Traverse City with double digit wind chills. A scan of Michigan temps shows Ironwood leading the way at a frigid -18 degrees with wind chills up to -26 expected. Bundle up!!

Here’s a funny chart about how Michiganders deal with cold via Absolute Michigan!

View on black and if you want a treat, kick back and watch Jiqing Fan’s Houghton & UP MI slideshow.

More cold on Michigan in Pictures!

Great Lakes Ice at near-record lows

Posted on by farlane

Winter 2011 - Lake Ice

Winter 2011 – Lake Ice, photo by danbruell

The Great Lakes Echo reports that:

A composite map of the Great Lakes produced by NOAA’s CoastWatch organization shows near-historic low ice coverage across the region.

The map, known as the Great Lakes Surface Environmental Analysis, is a composite of data taken from NOAA satellites orbiting the earth’s poles and radar scans of the lakes by the National Ice Center. The resulting image shows surface water temperature and ice coverage, important data for region scientists, fishermen and boaters. The map’s data is updated daily.

“Previously, the lowest ice coverage year was 2002,” CoastWatch manager George Leshkevich said. “2012 came very close to 2002, and this year is looking very similar to last year.”

Lack of ice cover leads to increased water evaporation, a serious concern in light of already-low lake levels.

You can read more about last year’s ice cover and impacts on Absolute Michigan.

Check Dan’s photo out background bigtacular and see more in his Lake Ice slideshow.

More winter wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!

Eben Ice Caves in the Rock River Wilderness

Posted on by farlane

A Healthy Green Glow

A Healthy Green Glow, photo by nasunto

I know it’s wintertime when I start seeing a lot of people asking about the Eben Ice Caves. Like many of the subjects on Michigan in Pictures, I don’t know much more than what I write on the blog. Recently, however, a good-hearted soul created the Eben Ice Caves Facebook page to serve as a hub for information about this wintertime wonder of Michigan.

Nina Asunto writes one of my favorite blogs, Black Coffee at Sunrise, a delightful wander through some of Michigan’s most fascinating places. Nina’s feature on the Eben Ice Caves explains that they are located in the Rock River Wilderness in the western section of Hiawatha National Forest.

Rock River Canyon is 150 feet deep and lined with sandstone outcrops, which have been eroded to form concave overhangs. During winter, ground water seeps over the edge and down through the sandstone where it freezes, creating huge curtains of ice and closing off the front of the outcrops to form caves.

In winter it is possible to access the ice caves from the south side of the wilderness area. A few miles north of Eben Junction, visitors can park their cars by the side of the road and cross an open field to the forest. The field is private property, but the owner allows for its use in winter to access the ice caves…

We had both seen a few photos of the ice caves, but none of them really captured the size of this phenomenon…

What we weren’t able to capture, however, was the amazing sound inside the cave. The drips of water falling from above created wonderful echoes and added to the cave atmosphere. There is much variation of color and texture to the ice in different parts of the cave. Some formations were smooth and clear, others were bumpy and hollow-sounding, and there were some columns that looked like dripping candle wax.

Read on for many more photos. You can also view this photo background bigtacular and see more in her fantastic Eben Ice Caves slideshow on Flickr!

More Eben Ice Caves on Michigan in Pictures.

I Love Ice

Posted on by farlane

I Love Ice_0746

I Love Ice_0746, photo by Mike Hainstock

As long as it’s not under my tires, I love ice too.

Check this photo out on black and see more in Mike’s spectacular ice slideshow which includes some photos from the soon-to-form Eben Ice Caves.

More ice on Michigan in Pictures.

Ice Boating on Lake Charlevoix

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Gordon in his Nite- Lake Charlevoix, Boyne City, Michigan

Gordon in his Nite- Lake Charlevoix, Boyne City, Michigan, photo by rickrjw.

Yesterday we took a trip under the ice of Lake Charlevoix, so it was very fitting that this morning Rick shared a photo from the other side of the ice on Lake Charlevoix! Our recent warm spell has cleared the snow and smoothed the ice on many lakes in Michigan, and that has brought ice boaters out in force.

Sail Michigan’s Michigan iceboating page explains

There are some peculiarities to ice boating (ice yachting) which are not seen with “soft water” sailing. First, most iceboats carry a single individual (so the need for crew is removed), however two or more person boats do exist. Second, because of the speeds involved (iceboats in general can travel 5-10x wind speed), ice sailors wear protective gear, including helmets. Third, iceboats do not require standard ramps for launching. And lastly, an intimate knowledge of ice conditions and lake topography is essential for a safer experience (although ice boating cannot be made 100% “safe”).

The iceboating season can’t start until snow-free hard ice is established on the lakes, usually after Christmas.

Check this photo out background big in in Ricks Iceboating 2012 slideshow!

Here’s one of our favorite iceboating videos: Ice boat vs Chevy on Lake St. Clair!