Normally we can expect Arctic Bay to freeze up in mid October, with Thanksgiving weekend a likely time frame for it to happen. Normally. The last five or so years freeze-up has been late, up to five weeks late. And although the Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone it looks like freeze-up has begun, only about a week late now.
Last week some multi year pack ice moved into the area, a lot of it ending up at the shoreline right in town. You don't often see this here in town, and there was a fair amount. Had freeze up happened on time, it would have been a lot more difficult this year getting on to the bay because of the jumble of large floes along the shore. However much of it has moved away from town so thankfully that won't be a problem.
Grey Ice has begun forming here on the bay, and this morning much of the bay was covered in it. It is the first step in freeze-up and should it remain calm out, as it is now freeze-up should be well underway by tomorrow.
Here's a photo from this morning, you should be able to see the thin layer of grey ice on the water.
Comments
4 responses
That’s a beautiful photo, Clare. A great mixture of moodiness and subtlety.
Why thank you Pete!
Beautiful sky and water! When do you actually lose all direct sunlight at your latitude and how long does it last? – Margy
Hi Margy, The sun sets here on November 5th and doesn’t rise again until February 6th. Actual dates are about a week more on either side but because of the terrain that is when we lose sight of it. Its not as bad as it sounds though, we still get varying amounts of twilight.