Ice-Out on Sebago Lake in 2018
May 10, 2018
Photographer: John Stetson
Summary Author: John Stetson
This year ice-out on Sebago Lake, Maine, occurred on April 23 -- the latest since 2003. Why watch the ice-out date? It's a way to monitor our climate. Records for Lake Sebago go all of the way back to 1807. During the winter of 2017/18 several late-season snowstorms, particularly in March, insulated the ice and protected it from the Sun. The snow also has an albedo effect; it reflects incoming light. Thus melting and ice-out was delayed this spring.
As ice becomes thin the wind can push it onto shore or onto a boulder of granite, as shown above. The resulting pile of ice is then called an ice shove.
Photo Details: Camera: NIKON D700; Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh; Exposure Time: 0.0080s (1/125); Aperture: ƒ/22.0; ISO equivalent: 200; Focal Length (35mm): 24.