Welcome back liquid water.  Everyone was happy to see you frozen over, we had lots of fun on you but got tired of the ice and the long winter.  Now get ready for fishing boats and it won't be long before paddle boards and wake boarders are skimming on your surface.

I guess that all my whining paid off.  The Monday blizzard that left two feet of drifted snow an my place apparently dumped enough warm rain and snow on the lake to stir and warm up the water to above freezing.  As the valley cleared on Tuesday morning the ice was gone.  I am more than willing to trade that for snow.

Ice Off Facts

I am tired….  I am tired of the snow on the ground….  I am tired of always having to wear a coat and long pants…. I am tired of looking out over the ice covered lake….  Most of these things are out of our control and are part of living in Bear Lake which I never get tired of.

The ice is on everyone’s mind.  First people want to know when it will freeze.  Once that happens, everyone is content until March.  Then it starts again, when will the ice go?

Many people assume that as the weather gets warm, it makes the ice soft on the top and it eventually melts.  That is true is small bodies of water but on Bear Lake things are different.  The rain and heat affect the ice surface but the water below needs to get warmer than 32 degrees.  The inflow from the Bear River and tributaries account for this impact.  This ice melts from the bottom up.  As the lake level increases it opens up a ring of water around the shoreline.  The lake then starts to get darker which means it is melting.  The wind starts pushing the huge ice mass around, it cracks and the blocks crash into each other.  More water opens up and one day, all of a sudden, it is gone.  It may push up on shore as a result of wind, but it will be bathed in a warm rain or just disappear.  I sure hope it melts before May.

Sure signs of spring are here  The turkey vultures have returned to Randolph, calves are frolicking around, turkeys are gobbling and the deer are nibbling the "first green bite"  Enjoy.

Mouth of Swan Creek working on the ice

I don't know how many times in the last week I have been asked it Bear Lake is open yet.  It should be because everything else is.  They also want to know when the ice will melt in the Marina.  I took this picture flying over the lake today.  You be the judge.

I am continually amazed at wildlife in the Bear Lake Valley.  This is a picture taken on 3-29-13 of an antelope feeding in the field west of the Chevron in Garden City.  Over the last thirty years I have watched antelope slowly migrate from the Bear River to the west,  Ten years ago I first saw them in the hills east of Bear Lake.  I then saw them cresting the top of Laketown Canyon.  Last year there a small bunch in the fields north of Laketown.  And now, this one on the other side of the valley.  If they were deer you might not be surprised but one thing that is different about antelope.  They can not jump fences,  They have to go under or around them.  There are a lot of fences between Laketown and Garden City.  Welcome.

Ice Breakers

Bear Lake State Park Marina looking west, March 22 2013

If you were to look at this picture you might think that Spring was coming to the lake.  The open water is actually the result of the water circulators around the moored sailboats to keep ice from forming. 

Boat Ramp

It is obvious that you can now launch your boat and go out on the lake as long as it is an  ICEBREAKER.

It is a beautiful spring day outside at Bear Lake.  Everyone knows that spring begins next week and they can't wait for the snow to leave and the green to appear.  This will begin everywhere around us, but not in the Bear Lake Valley.  We have, as close as I can estimate, 24,393,600 tons of ice to melt.  We are an icebox which will affect our temperatures and it is going to take some time to turn the ice into water.  This is especially true considering the lake is covered with snow that reflects heat.  In fact it is still making ice.

Ice pushed up around the shoreline

                                       

If you travel along the shoreline you will see ice being pushed up on shore.  This is not due to the wind or changing lake elevations but expansion.  This action is actually very important to the littoral zone of the lake.  After years of low water, dead trees and Pharagmites in addition to sandbars and rocks are now encased in ice which is now moving them up the shore.  

Rocks and sand on their way back up the beach

                                        

With that much ice mass nothing can resist it.  So when it melts, I hope  in April, things will look different   At this lake elevation a lot of strange things can still happen once the icebergs start banging around.  When breakup get closer I will talk about what happens then.

Goodbye trees