'A pretty amazing phenomenon': Giant ice shoves form on Lake Winnipeg
Even though it is spring, some Manitobans were in for a cool surprise over the weekend as ice piled up on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, creating what looked like giant hills of ice.
Ron Suzuki, who lives in Winnipeg Beach, said he drove out to Riverton, Man., on Friday evening and saw the ice piled up about 25 feet high.
Ice shoves on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. (Source Ron Suzuki)
“It was all along this one spit, it’s called Sandy Bar Beach…the ice was pushed up against that whole area,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “It even pushed sand and dirt up to it as well.”
As for what caused the ice pile up, Alex Crawford, a research associate and sessional instructor at the U of M’s Centre for Earth Observation Science, said this is a classic “ice shove.”
Crawford explained that ice shoves most commonly occur in the spring and involve a mobile ice cover and a persistent wind.
An ice shove on Lake Winnipeg. (Source: Kirby and Celina Russell)
“For the ice cover to be mobile, it needs to be floating on the water. If it's too thick, it might grind on the lake bed and not move easily,” he said in a statement.
Crawford added that mobile ice packs are more common in the spring melt season, because in the fall the ice grows from the shore, but in the spring the melting typically occurs around the shoreline before the centre of the lake.
To then drive the mobile ice cover onto the shore and create an ice shove, it takes a strong, persistent wind.
“These winds blew all that ice onshore, pushing it up relentlessly into those piles,” Crawford said.
“The wind acted like a conveyor belt at a grocery store with nobody bagging, and the ice floes were like the groceries. If the conveyor belt keeps pushing more groceries to the bagging area, they will start piling up at the end.
Other factors, such as water fluctuations, can also contribute to ice shoves.
Suzuki said that he’s seen ice shoves once before in Winnipeg Beach in April 2010.
“It’s a pretty amazing phenomenon,” he said. “I think it’s pretty unique. You need a really big lake.”
The ice shove on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. (Source: Ron Suzuki)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.