High Winds And Ice Threaten Lake Shore Homes
March 10, 2009
By: Stephen Kent
It happens once or twice a decade on the Saginaw Bay. The ice conditions are just right, a strong wind whips up, and suddenly things start MOVING!
Sunday night was one of those times. A warm March had thinned the ice on the shallow Saginaw Bay. Ice fishermen had been warned to stay off the ice because it was breaking up. When the wind blew in from the east the thin (3 to 8 inches) ice began to break up and the wind pushed it like a sailboat.
Sunday's wind started around noon and blew at 15 to 30 mph until midnight. People were taken by surprise from Bay City State Park north to Linwood.
Andy Rogers
Local photographer and frequent MyBayCity.com contributor Andy Rogers and his wife Sandy were called out on a bird rescue mission. Sandy owns Wings and Things in downtown Bay City. She opened the store and provided startled birds a safe night in the store. The bird's owners headed for a hotel.
Rogers reported that one couple said "we didn't hear anything but the wind. But our birds did. They became very agitated and noisy well before the ice got to the house. When we went to the window it was a total surprise."
Conditions have to be right for this type of breakup to occur. Weak ice, the right temperature, and sustained winds blowing on shore. In 1984 the Great Lakes were in a high water cycle. That year huge slabs of ice crashed into homes all along the shore. For the last few years the lakes have been in a low-water cycle. The bay is very shallow or even dry far out from the normal shoreline. In those conditions the ice just can't make it to shore. With water levels rising this year the ice was close enough to make a serious threat.
Want to show your family and friends in other parts of the country what a little wind and ice can do on the Saginaw Bay?
Click the "Send this Article to a Friend" link near the bottom of the page and let them appreciate Andy Roger's pictures!
