Ice, Anyone?

Crew members from icebreaker USS Bristol Bay take a dip in icy Lake Erie after freeing Algoma Hansa (ship closest to them) 8 March 2015 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

22 January 2025

While it snowed in Florida yesterday (click here for video!) the deep freeze up north is making the Great Lakes ice up.

As of yesterday Lake Erie was iced over on its western and all along the shore to Buffalo. Erie freezes before the other lakes because it’s so shallow.

Great Lakes surface Temperature and ice cover as of 21 Jan 2025 (map from Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab)

With the western end frozen solid it’s hard to keep shipping channels open. Ten years ago during the very cold winter of 2015 ships got stuck in Lake Erie’s ice. This one is stuck near Ashtabula, Ohio that February. Coast Guard icebreakers came out to rescue it.

Ship stuck in ice near Ashtabula, OH, 19 Feb 2015 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

When the job is done the crew gets “ice liberty” to jump in the water. In the photo at top they are gazing at the ship they freed. Below you can see they are wear waterproof ice suits when they do it.

Crew of USS Bristol Bay on “ice liberty,” (photo )

This is their a reward for a job well done.

Ice, anyone?

p.s. The day after I wrote this article, the USS Bristol Bay was called out to Buffalo, NY to free a ship stuck in the ice. Here’s news on 23 January 2025 before the icebreaker showed up.

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