Icing Up

click to enlarge
St. Joseph Outer Light
Outer Light
St. Joseph, Michigan


The waves and spray are beginning the process of icing up the lighthouse and pier marking the entrance to the St. Joseph River at Lake Michigan. The 45 MPH winds created waves at least 10 feet high, and splashes up to 50 feet high.

Even though the ice thawed from the lighthouse over the weekend, there was still plenty of shelf ice along the shore. This photographer wandered right out onto the ice to get some photos:
Dangerous 1

Here's why this is dangerous:
Dangerous 2

He's standing on about 25 feet of ice (who knows how much is below the surface), but it's full of air pockets and could be paper thin anywhere. He was very lucky - I'll bet he thought he was on the shore. Shelf ice is deadly, and should be avoided at all cost.

1 comment:

Brokecompsoul said...

Thats one crazy place!

Tom - for some reason none of your entries were visible from the 18th onward till this evening - Strange