Late Winter Dunes

It's late winter, and mother nature can't make up her mind. One day it's bitter cold, the next nearly 80 degrees. This cycle of warm and cold is normal for this time of year in Northern Indiana, but one never gets used to it. A spell of warm weather gets you into spring mode, ready to plant gardens and bring out the patio furniture, but the next day, it's back to winter and shoveling snow. It's this waffling weather that plays with the emotions, and the ice along Lake Michigan.

 

Warm weather does allow for more comfortable hiking near Lake Michigan, so longer hikes are in order. Exploring the rolling dunes near the shore is fulfilling in all seasons, but once things warm up, it brings up feelings of summer. One look around, and it's clearly not summer, the marram grass is brown, the coniferous trees are not yet green, and the oak trees are bare - everything is still dormant. 

The views between the dunes reveals the still-frozen ice shelf on Lake Michigan, something not everyone has seen in person. Visiting the beach in winter is incredible, especially when it's warmer outside. Walking on the shore, there are dunes to your left, and ice mounds to the right - just like walking through a valley between two tiny mountain ranges.

The Total Lunar Eclipse of 2025

While not as rare as solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are a sight to behold. This full moon was named the Blood Moon, as the color often is red due to the particles in the atmosphere. It's never known exactly what color the moon will be during an eclipse until it actually happens. The moon this morning was red, but not as deep as I've seen. I also see a bit of a blue color combined with the red and brown which is known as the Japanese Lantern Effect. Commonly seen right before or right after totality. This image was taken right when the moon entered totality, so there was still quite a bit of light at the top of the moon.
          

This is the moon seen at around 50% covered. At quick glance, one would look into the sky and see a half moon - nothing unusual here. But if you look closely at the full moon during a lunar eclipse, there are no shadows on the craters. A typical crescent moon will reveal lots of detail formed by the sun shining at an angle to our view. Looking closely at this image, there are no details such as this. The sun is hitting the surface from a point directly behind our view, so shadows of the contours of the moon's surface are not highlighted in light and shadow. The shadow of the earth on the moon is also at a different angle.
       

Here too, there are no craters visible due to shading and light. This image is about 90 percent totality. The light from the moon was beginning to wane quickly. As I capture moon images, I take multiple images of the moon and stack them together, so the little amount of light is a bit amplified by stacking. Unlike a solar eclipse, the total lunar eclipse lasts quite a long time, around an hour. The eclipse ran around six hours total, with totality starting around 1:20am. A long night for sure.

Openings in the Ice

Depending upon the weather, atmospheric conditions, and elevation, the Chicago skyline can often be seen across Lake Michigan from some 48 miles away. During the winter, the horizon is blocked by ice mounds that can reach 15 feet in height, and this can block the view of the skyline. Of course, climbing the dunes will change the perspective, and allow visitors to see over the ice mounds. 

At this time of year, when the ice is breaking up and melting, windows between mounds can be discovered, offering a view of the skyline from beach level.

 

As the ice melts, it reveals areas of the beach which were covered by heavy ice mounds. These depressions in the sand can take on interesting shapes, and often fill with meltwater. The water's levels change with the lake, and with the melting of the ice beneath the sand, and these changes can be seen in the patterns around the depressions. Each line indicates where the water level was at a certain point in time. 

As the weather warms, the ice under the sand melts, and walking along the shore can be tricky, at certain points, the sand has not yet sank or compressed after thawing, and your feet can sink into the wet sand. I've sunk into the sand in some areas up to my knees - it's quite a shock to suddenly sink into what feels like quicksand. It's best to walk a bit inland at this time of year.

Waning Shelf Ice

The shelf ice continues to melt along the Lake Michigan shoreline, creating interesting, ever-changing formations. The tall mounds of ice quickly begin to shift and crack, revealing the faults and holes that could be dangerous or even deadly if covered by thin ice or snow. As the waves pound the ice mounds, they're undercut and can break away from the ice mass at any time.

 

Walking safely along the shore, these mounds appear thick and substantial enough to walk on, but the undercutting by the waves, and the shifting of the ice mass makes this an even more dangerous time to venture onto the ice shelf. The movement of the ice creates faults and thin areas where one can easily fall through. Imagine being on an ice mound when it suddenly breaks off and rolls into the freezing lake - I'll stand on firm ground.

 

The bright sunlight creates a fantastic contrast between the white ice and the dark sand and water. Walking along the shore one can see the intricate details of the ice, while climbing onto a dune gives an overall view of the entire ice shelf. Imagine this ice lining the entire shore of Lake Michigan, this is only a tiny selection of what waits to be discovered.

Ice Field on Lake Michigan

As a spell of warmer weather hits the area, the ice and snow begin to melt a bit, exposing some of the sand that sits on the ice mounds along the lake. The sand was kicked up onto the mounds as they formed, and now gets concentrated as some ice melts on the surface of the mounds. These mounds are about 15 feet tall, and will remain in place even as the temperatures climb. Some of them are resting on the bottom of the shallows along the shore, while others were only floating on the surface of the water. It's the floating ones that are most affected by warmer weather; they crack, break and wash away rather quickly.

Here you can see holes in the mounds, proving that these are not always solid, and can be hollow inside. Walking on what seems to be a thick, solid chunk of ice can be deadly if a hollow spot is only covered by a thin sheet of ice. These hollow spots often lead directly to the frigid waters of Lake Michigan where there is no escape.

 

So many formations can be seen in the ice. These mounds often remind me of mountains seen from a high altitude, and in this formation where a small, blue pond has formed and frozen, this really looks like a landscape seen from high above.

Convergence

A warm, overcast day on the Lake Michigan Shore resulted in some ice mounds beginning to break up. As we made it to the shore, the sand dunes rolled into the distant ice mounds on the lake; they matched each other's shape perfectly. Then further out, a horizontal band of water matched the horizontal bands of clouds in the sky - a convergence of shapes. 

This year's shelf ice mounds have built up to a good height and reach quite far into the lake (although I've seen the mounds stretch hundreds and hundreds of feet further). The warmer weather at the beginning of the year, the brutal cold spells with warmer weather in between have created some interest in the ice. One day the ice covers the lake as far as one can see, the next day, the wind changes direction and pushes the floe ice away from the shore. 

As usual, something new to see every time I visit. Today's visit, while cloudy, made for a very dramatic sky in the background, with muted elements in the midground, and deep warmth in the foreground. A trifecta in a way. Of course, things changed even as we left the park a few hours later.

Ice Along the Shore

 

Looking beyond the shelf ice on a clear day, one could see the Chicago skyline in the distance. Some 38 miles across the lake, if you look closely, you'll notice the bottom of the buildings are missing, this is due to the curvature of the earth - sorry flat-earthers. I you were to climb the dunes directly behind, more of the buildings would be visible due to the higher vantage point. The waves are pounding the outer ends of the shelf ice, splashing high up onto the ice mounds. This process is both tearing down the ice, and building it up. Loose pieces will break off from the wave action, but those chunks will be tossed up onto the ice mounds and frozen back into place in the cold temperatures.

If you look at the shelf ice from a distance, you can see the progression of how the ice was formed. Where there are mounds, the day was cold, windy, and the lake was wavey. This type of environment lifts and throws the ice chunks onto the edge of the ice where it grows taller, and wider. When the winds die down, floe ice will bump into the mounds and freeze in place forming flat areas of the shelf ice. When the waves begin again, ice mounds form ont he edges of the flat areas, making more and more tall mounds. At times, these ice formations can extend hundreds of feet into Lake Michigan. Floe ice will then get pushed into the shelf ice by gentle winds, and this ice can extend as far as the eye can see, making the lake appear to be frozen solid - but it's not.

   

 No matter the weather, creeks and streams continue to flow into Lake Michigan. At this time, Kintzele Ditch was not frozen, and you could watch it flow up to and then under the shelf ice. Even when the ditch is frozen, it's still flowing into the lake. I've been to this area in extremely cold weather, and if you listen, you can hear the water flowing under the ice, and sometimes see a cave-like area the flowing water carved through the ice.

The lakeshore changes quickly, often in a day or less, and in winter, the ice does the same. Every visit in winter, brings something brand new.