Seen from beach level, the St. Joseph, Michigan range lights appear completely covered and surrounded by ice, but seeking a higher vantage point shows the lake is just beginning to ice around the pier. Winds pushed the thin sheets of ice toward the pier, as lake currents pushed submerged ice perpendicular to the surface ice, all making an eerie scratching sound as we explored the frozen sentinels.
By now, with temperatures dipping to 0°F at night, and rarely rising above 12°F, the pier and lighthouses are probably surrounded by now, and with the forecast calling for more and more cold weather, it appears they'll be frozen for a long time to come.
Investigating some of the details of the ice covered lighthouses is always worth some extra time. The ice changes almost hourly as the spray from Lake Michigan freezes to the structures, but once the winds stop or the lake is covered with ice, the waves no longer spray water up onto the pier and the ice building stops. It's interesting how the back side and under sides of parts of the lighthouse don't always get covered in ice, it all depends on how the wind and waves acted while the lake was still liquid.
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