Sun Rising and Ice Lowering

Sun Rise 07:30 Feb. 12

On the way to work this morning, I saw an interesting sun rise. Today was completely overcast except for a bit in the east. Just before the sun appeared at the horizon, a unique situation occurred. Not sure what you call this, but it is not really a "sun dog". I have never seen this before.



Out on the St. Clair River, this ice has really piled up, especially around Walpole and Harsen's Islands. Upstream around Sarnia, there is actually a big jam that has curtailed the flow of water. The water levels around Port Lambton have dropped more than two feet.
It reminds me of the incredible ice jam of 1984.

April 13, 1984 at Port Lambton

In April 1984, the ice in the river built up to such an extent, that the river almost stopped flowing.
It was the time when ships were coming out of winter layup and there were many ships wanting to transit the St. Clair River. Around Walpole/Harsen's Islands the ice was jammed right to the bottom, and ships were virtually stopped.
The river was backed up somewhere upstream and the water level dropped very significantly.
At times the ice did move. Such force was behind the ice, that the ships had no control and were at nature's whim. I remember seeing the Murray Bay aground at Algonac listing to port as she had been forced up onto the channel bank.
Some of the older ships could put their engines "full ahead" and make no headway. In one instance, a ship had both bow anchors down and engines full ahead and was still being forced astern by the ice. Seems to me it was the Kinsman Independent. This shows the immense power of ice!

The above photo I took at the south end of Port Lambton on Friday April 13, 1984. It was an incredible sight as there were 13 ships from there up to Fawn Island stuck in the ice. They were actually bumping into each other! I called it Black Friday with the black storm clouds in the background.
Below are photos from the marina today showing the drop in ice. Hopefully when the water level rises, it will not get too high, and lift my boat off the timbers! Ice can be very powerful and the hydraulic pressure created by rising water is immense.