Break-up 2010

Close-up of the pressure crack.  You can see where it opened a bit, then refroze.

Break-up 2010

I walked across the lake on the afternoon of Monday, March 22nd.  This pressure crack crossed the lake from east to west.  I crossed several more pressure cracks along my 6 km hike. 

ice patterns

 

Break-up 2010

This is a close-up of the place where the ice froze early in December and got snowed on (white).  The dark ice came a few days after the snow, thus shows clear.

Break-up 2010

With all the snow long gone from the lake, the clear ice allows a view of the rock below.  Reminiscent of the same area from last December (below).

Clear Ice with rocks from December

 

Break-up 2010

What an odd end to winter we've had!  Warm weather arrived in the first few days of the month, and stayed for nearly 3 weeks.  It didn't take long for the snow to melt away, and soon the ice began to melt.

 

This has never happened in March before.  Actually it doesn't get that warm for that long even in April.  So we've been watching very closely this year.  The melt is different than I've ever seen before, but ever so beautiful.

 

This close-up of the ice surface on March 22nd shows the clarity, and the beginnings of melt lines.