Ice-Out on Sebago Lake, Maine, 2015
May 14, 2015
Photographer: John Stetson
Summary Author: John Stetson
On April 18th at 43 degrees north latitude, skim ice formed one last time on the open water, and dark-colored remnant ice could be seen in Jordan Bay on the east side of Sebago Lake. At ice-out, the Sun’s maximum altitude was 57 degrees above the horizon. It's about two months until the summer solstice; two months after the solstice, the mid-August sun will have the same maximum altitude.
Ice-out records have been maintained for a small island in Lake Sebago going all the way back to 1807. It's possible to follow this record, which covers the period of the Industrial Revolution to the present to observe/monitor aspects of the climate in the vicinity of the lake. Click here to see ice-out dates. Thanks to Glenn Hodgkins of the USGS for this graph.