EMMET CO., "An island has sprung up off the coast of Lake Michigan and this one isn't made of dirt."It was just a bunch of blocks piled on top of each other and they were welded together with the wind and snow," Outdoor enthusiast Josh Baker explained.
Over the weekend, Baker and his family stumbled across this giant island floating in Lake Michigan outside of the small town of Good Hart.
Sunday, he decided to climb the jagged, 15-foot ice mountain. Once he made it to the top, he noticed the structure was different on the other side.
"The side facing the lake was almost sheer, it was pretty neat. So the side I was on was all jumbled and the opposite side was just sheer down to the water," Baker said.
Good Hart General Store Owner Jim Sutherland says this sight is not a new one, but he says it has been many years since he has seen one this big.
"This year we have been fortunate enough to have cold weather, lots of wind, and combined it builds ice into ice caves, ice mountains," Sutherland said.
He says mother nature has probably been building this ice island for around 6 to 8 weeks.
"The wind combined with the movement of water, vertically and horizontally, a whole motion of the lake as it moves towards the mountains of ice," Sutherland explained.
That mountain of ice left Josh Baker with a camera full of memories and a unique sight to share with northern Michigan.
"I've never seen anything that concentrated. You will see blocks stacked against one another on the shoreline but this was so tall, so huge," Sutherland said." via Drudge
both photos above by ap, ice islands in Lake Michigan, via UK Daily Mail, 3/8/13
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1/11/13, "Report says warming is changing US daily life," Seth Borenstein, AP
"Sewer systems across America may overflow more, causing damages and fouling lakes and waterways because of climate change, the report said. The sewer overflows into Lake Michigan alone will more than double by the year 2100, the report said."...(3rd parag. fr. end)
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Lake Michigan area residents seeking more water in the lake may be relieved to know weather is usually cyclical:
3/1/13, "New group wants higher Lake Michigan-Huron level," AP
"A newly formed coalition is demanding action to raise water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron.
Restore Our Water International is an alliance of U.S. and Canadian groups worried about declining levels in the two lakes over the past 14 years. Its members represent shoreline property owners and commercial interests.
The chairman is Roger Gauthier, a retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist.
He says dredging and mining in the St. Clair River corridor years ago reduced Lakes Michigan and Huron by at least 20 inches. He says that has combined with a warmer and drier climate to keep the levels abnormally low.
Existing law allows the government to place structures in the river to slow the flow of water out of Lake Huron. But it's never been done."
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