If you live in the northern states you may not think of ice out as a big deal but since I am from Texas I love to watch, and to listen, when the ice starts moving from Yellowstone Lake into the Yellowstone River. Yellowstone Lake, at 136 square miles, is the largest lake in North America above 7,000 feet so the amount of ice on it is pretty spectacular. It usually happens in late May or early June and is almost always over in one day. It starts when the ice begins to break up and a good wind from the South begins pushing it into the Yellowstone River.
A lot of people in Yellowstone make bets on when it will happen. I don’t bet on it but I have learned a few things while watching it in the last several years. When the wind is out of the South and ice begins to build up on the shore in Mary and Sedge Bays go to Fishing Bridge and start watching. We have been lucky and caught it three of the last four years. This year was rather unusual. It started one afternoon then quit when the wind died down. The next day it started again when the wind picked up in the afternoon. On the third day it really got going and by the next day all of the ice was gone. It is really amazing to see ice totally covering the lake one day and absolutely gone the next.
I am working on a short video to show you but in the mean time you will have to be content with a couple of close ups of the ice crystals that pop up when the blocks of ice rub against each other. That is my favorite part because the crystals are so pretty.
That was a pretty spectacular event! Thanks for this post Judy – I got home way late last night.