Marilyn's Photos - Jan 30 2026 - Ice Sculpture Time

 

Niagara Falls alert!  With the freezing temperatures, it is an ice sculpture wonderland.  Everything is coated in ice. It makes me wonder if the light standards could collapse under the weight of the ice.   It is that frozen mist effect.  The Tunnel viewing platform at the Niagara Parks Power Station is the place to get the best view, according to news articles.  The great historic ice bridge happened  1848 and water stopped flowing for 30 hours.  An ice bridge will form when the strong currents push water and ice to the surface where frigid temperatures freeze the mixture.  They can still happen, but are small and not stable.  . Here’s the story of the day the water stopped flowing and the ice bridge formed in March 1848: “For thirty long, silent hours, the river dried up and those who were brave enough walked or rode horses over the rock floor of the channel. Then, with a roar that shook the foundations of the earth, a solid wall of water, cresting to a great height, curled down the channel and crashed over the brink of the precipice. Niagara was back in business to the immense relief of everyone.” “News traveled slowly in those days but the explanation finally came. High winds set the ice fields of Lake Erie in motion and millions of tons of ice became lodged at the source of the river, blocking the channel completely until finally a shift in the forces of nature released it and the pent up weight of water broke through.” Did you know: Lake Erie is the major producer of ice that flows down the Niagara River and is capable of producing 16,093 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) of ice. The ice is blown down the river and over the Falls, where it becomes caught as the river narrows near the Canadian Maid of the Mist Landing;  some of the ice is pushed back upriver, which can build up to form an ice jam.  Ice jams can be very erosive; ice grinds on the river bed, moves large boulders and alters the shoreline.  When wind stops forcing water out of Lake Erie into the river, the water level drops leaving the ice jam aloft like a bridge. The phenomenon of the ice bridge is a familiar occurrence each winter.” Ice bridges were popular events in the 1800s and there would be trans-national parties below the river.  This came to an end in 1912 when the jam broke and people perished in the icy flood. Here’s the historic 1848 picture (even though I see water flowing, so who knows). Here’s my tiny patch of ice on Lake Ontario’s shore at Grimsby Beach.

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