This was the scene a week ago on a perfectly calm and not terrifically cold day along Lake Ontario. Surprising to me is that people had been driving large-tire vehicles along the shore edge of the ice to get to their camps further out the peninsula, or perhaps to access the ice for fishing on the inland pond.
The ice field you see here is the result of deep cold that began to freeze Lake Ontario, followed by very strong winds that are almost always westerly here, pushing it all up against the shore in a dense pack. At the North Sandy Pond outlet, a mile north of here, ice crammed into the outlet and blocked drainage of the ponds, North and South, for several days causing major flooding to many camps along the ponds.
Below are two early spring photos from other years taken from the same platform for comparisons' sake.
If I could, I would go to Sandy Island Pond tomorrow because I think the scene will be spectacular. We are having another Arctic blast of cold and a lot more wind and snow from the west. The weather will be poor for exploration for another day or more. Lake effect snow is making driving impossible at times and impossible to predict, extending along a wide swath east of the lake. This evening that snow belt reached all the way to Saratoga Springs, more than one hundred miles away.
On Wednesday, or Thursday, but maybe not until Friday, a road trip is in store.
additional, partial advisory for Tuesday am:
- IMPACTS...HEAVY LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL RESULT IN SNOW COVERED
ROADS ALONG WITH BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND PERIODIC
WHITEOUT CONDITIONS THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY DIFFICULT TO
NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AT TIMES. IN ADDITION...VERY COLD WIND
CHILLS WILL RESULT IN A RISK OF HYPOTHERMIA AND FROSTBITE FOR
ANYONE OUTSIDE FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME WITHOUT PROPER
CLOTHING.
