May 7, 2023: Melting Everywhere

Reports flooded in yesterday evening.

Chuck Tyrell reached Scotty Island.

The beach on Scotty Island.

Chuck reports that he could not get to the far side of the island; ice still blocked his attempts. Thanks, Chuck.

Kurt Skakum sent two pictures showing the ice-out on Pine Portage Bay.

Pine Portage Bay at 6:45 on Friday evening.

Pine Portage Bay at 5:30 on Saturday afternoon.

There’s still a little ice visible in the distance, but Kurt reports that a boat ran the length of Pine Portage Bay on Saturday. Thanks Kurt.

Aaron Bosma sent this picture an hour or so later, showing Pine Portage Bay all open.

Pine Portage Bay fully open.

Thanks, Aaron.

Craig Dunn sent this picture of Echo Bay.

Echo Bay from the west end.

Craig says the ice was candled, but still covered about half the bay when he took this picture. Thanks, Craig.

Meanwhile, the Manitou was also breaking up. Here’s a shot from Dave Kerr’s dock cam on Wolf Island.

The Manitou from Wolf Island at 6:53 pm on Saturday.

Thanks Dave.

I started with all these shoreline pictures because they give an idea of just how fast things are changing.

Now I’d like to switch to aerial photos from Kelly Belair to show the bigger picture. You can click on these to see them at full resolution.

Looking north across the Manitou.

See where the ice road bends? That’s where it passes around the east end of Whisky Island. The island in the middle of the picture is Palisade. So there’s lots of ice in the Manitou, but it’s poor, and it’s melting along the island shorelines.

Let’s follow that ice road south to twelve mile portage.

Looking north over Twelve Mile Portage.

Lots of open water around Shammis Island and Crow Rock Island now, and also in Micrometer Bay, at the upper left.

How is it to the south of the Barrier Islands?

Cintiss Island and Crescent Island.

Well, pretty icy.  But this part of the lake is where ice often persists until the very end.

From here, Kelly flew a little to the east.

Ferrier Island.

This shot looks north towards the eastern part of the Barrier Islands: East Allie Island and the Eastern Peninsula. Here, too, there’s open water along the shorelines. Most of the dark patches are just cloud shadows, though.

After this, Kelly headed over towards Yellow Girl Bay.

Red Cliff Bay and Yellow Girl Bay.

This shot is taken from near Shore Island, looking south east over Red Cliff Bay, with Yellow Girl in the distance.

Next, over to Andrew Bay.

Andrew Bay and Witch Bay.

This is from about half way down Andrew Bay, looking east. Witch Bay is in the upper right part of the picture.

Bigstone Bay.

Here’s a look down Bigstone Bay. That’s Heenan Point just above the centre, and below that is the mouth of Pine Portage Bay. The land in the bottom half of the frame is two parts of Sultana Island.

Pine Portage Bay.

This shot looks out of Pine Portage Bay, with Bigstone Bay spanning the frame in the distance. These pictures were taken in the afternoon, and that ice in the foreground was all gone by suppertime.

Looking south west from Bald Indian Bay towards the Manitou.

I had to pore over the map for a while to sort these islands out, so I tagged them. Anyway, it’s about half ice in the foreground, but more than that in the distance.

Now a Sunday morning update from Devon Ostir. Here’s the latest on the Manitou from his dock cam on Hare Island.

Hare Island dock cam image of the Manitou.

Alternative view from Hare Island.

Thanks, Devon.

Okay, I think this post has gone on long enough. I’ve still got pictures coming in, but I’ll save them for the next report.

The weather forecast is for rain until Tuesday and then things heat up mid-week before returning to near normal. Humidity and heat are both very good at melting ice.

Most lake-dwellers with places near Kenora will be able to reach their camps in the next day or two, and the entire lake should be ice free by next weekend.