The modus satellite shows the giant ice cube located off of the northeast shore of Lake Erie is shattering rapidly. The ice boom was taken down over a week ago between Fort Erie and Buffalo. These warms temperatures will soon open our lake and allow waves to get to the beaches again.
The down tick on this is that warmer air temperatures over cold water do not transmit the wind energy into the water to form waves. A difference of more than ten degrees between water and air temperatures is called the lufting effect. A difference like this generally means no surf riding until the air and water temperatures get closer.
Below is the Niagara River Ice Boom camera shot showing Lake Erie looking northwest towards Point Abino. Look at the ice flowing left to right down the Niagara River. Also note the lack of ice along the shoreline in Fort Erie. The modus space image from yesterday shows a lot of slush and broken ice along the Canadian shores still clogging us surf breaks near Port Colborne. I have been watching the images every day and there is appreciable degradation of the ice field that can be seen occuring rapidly as the open skies allow the sun to melt the lake ice and warm up the western end of Lake Erie. The solid is about to mass convert back to liquid. The time of step onto ice is about to become step into liquid again.
http://www.iceboom.nypa.gov/
