Floating on the ice

 

Before the current warm spell arrived, Grand Portage Island looked like it was floating on a horizon that barely existed...

February Sunset over Lake Superior Ice

 

The February sun sets on a Lake Superior shoreline locked in ice. What an awesome time of year. The cold months sure are beautiful. 

Ice Cave Sunset

 

Found this really cool (albeit small) ice cave while out exploring yesterday. There is quite a bit of ice around at the moment which makes Lake Superior so beautiful.  This is my favorite time of year by far to be out exploring the shoreline. 

Instant Ice on Lake Superior

 

Conditions can change quickly any time of year on Lake Superior, but especially so in winter. This past week we've really been seeing a lot of changes on the lake in front of our house. One morning there is ice, the next it's gone.  Then the next morning the bay is covered in ice again.  And the next morning it's all split up into sheets and drifting around.  It's always a surprise as to what it will look like each morning. This was the scene yesterday. The entire bay had a thin layer of ice that was covered in frost flowers. The cracks you see here were some of only a handful of cracks that existed around the bay. All this ice was is still there today... which makes me wonder how much thicker it got in the last 24 hours.  Temps are still pretty cold, with overnight lows from 15 to 25 below zero. It looks like we're in for a little warmer weather coming up this week, so hang on... we'll get some relief soon!

February Sea Smoke on Lake Superior

 

The past few mornings have been incredibly beautiful as I drive to work.  The morning temps have been roughly 20 to 25 below zero and that means the Lake Superior Steam Factory has been in full production. It's a jaw-dropping sight for sure!  

Pete's Island at -20 degrees

 

In case you're wondering what a minus 20 degree morning on Lake Superior looks like, this is it.  Normally we have a nice clear view of Pete's Island (Grand Portage Island) but today the island was shrouded in steam thanks to the cold air clashing with the much warmer waters of the lake.  

Winter Abstracts: Snow / Ice / Water

 

It's been such a beautiful weekend!  Very cold but also lots of sun. The former is good for ice formations, the latter is good for photography adding some nice mid-day depth to scenes that otherwise lack a sense of depth and texture on overcast days. Looking for abstract patterns and shapes within snow and ice is one of my favorite things to do with a camera. And yesterday we sure had a lot of fun looking for such things! 

A very cold and surreal sunset in Grand Marais

 

This evening's sunset in Grand Marais, MN was pretty surreal. The air temp was almost 10 below zero (Fahrenheit) which meant there was quite a bit of sea smoke rising off the lake. There was also a pretty brisk wind pushing that smoke across the surface of the lake. A dark cloud bank covered most of the sky but there was an opening to the west between the horizon and the bottom edge of the clouds. We knew this meant once the sun hit that opening there would be some pretty awesome colors. When that moment came, things indeed got very colorful!

Great Gray Owl

 

This past weekend I was fortunate to spend about 15 minutes watching this Great Gray Owl as it looked for prey along the southern edge of a logging cut. We saw the bird about an hour before sunset on a very calm afternoon.  The forest was incredibly quiet.  So much so that even when the owl swooped down to the ground below, not a sound could be heard from its powerful yet impossibly silent wings.  Even more impressive, when it took off from the ground and flew to a different tree there also was no noticeable sound from the bird's movement.  Such amazing creatures!  

Above: Owl imprint in the snow.  This is were the bird landed when it swooped down to the ground. Look closely at the top left of the photo to see some marks left where one of the wings scraped the snow as it flew away.