The Fresh Aspect

OK, so if you've checked this blog for a while now, you know a few things... of which A) Certain themes repeat themselves from one year to the next based, mostly on season and pass time; B) Thunder Bay Ontario is situated on Lake Superior; C) Winter can be long and drawn out in northwestern Ontario; D) Weather and Lake Superior are interesting subjects.

Which leads to:
The Fresh Aspects brief archival history of Lake Superior ice conditions in the month of March

And some photographic evidence:

March 5th, 2010 (most recent quality image).


March 10th, 2009- holy hell, look at all that ice!


March 10th, 2008- more than 2010



Despite the 3 feet of ice that may exist in some of the embayments on Lake Superior, we have seen significantly less ice cover in comparison to the last couple of years. So the forecast models put out in late fall 2009 were correct in predicting the outcome of a El Nino season.

So have i been surfing then? The short answer is NO. It doesn't matter how little ice there is, if there aren't any storms or significant winds, other than the common Northerly flow during the winter, there aren't many waves to be had.

The upshot has been a mild winter with good skiing and recent 14C temperatures, which i have to admit is pleasant despite the fact that i truly love winter.

peace
e

photos courtesy of NOAA GLERL Coastwatch