March 26, 1997

Ice Observations of Marquette Area Provided by Marelene

greetings ice explorer.. the report for this week is pretty much the same, not a whole heck of a lot has changed except in the north. along the rock cut and through lower harbor area, mccarty's cove and the picnic rock area the ice is as it was. i'm sure there have been subtle changes w/the exxtreme sunlight we've been getting, the only noticable one is the pressure ridge is changing shapes, the warm air and sunlight have been sculpting it into various and interesting forms.. from picnic rocks to the power plant in upper harbor, the white sheet or blanket if you will, of ice remains with exception of holes or ponds of water scattered here and there. there is no ice of course by the hot pond at the power p[lant and you can follow the warm current as it melts its way further out into the lake in snake like pattern. at the ne side of the isle, the ice appears the same as last week, out to the end of the breakwall and out from the end of the island. looking N water flows freely from he N most point of the island to the horizon line. thin lines of ice can be seen floating here and there to horizon. the wind was directly out of the S causing wavey heat lines, which made looking to the horizon mirage like. at the NW side of the isle and looking that direction, the bay is still incased in its ice, just to the edge of the water line in the N there is about 4 feet in length of big to huge ice pile ups . all the ice has completely cleared from around little presque isle. looking from my distance, the NW coast only seems to hav its pressure ridge left in tact. mqt. icy reporter mh