Yesterday the ice broke up and quickly disappeared by the ice caves on Lake Superior near Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Last month people were still visiting the ice caves, walking on the frozen surface of Lake Superior and two months I had brave the cold weather to visit them too. I am glad I wasn’t on the ice when it broke up as the creaking and cracking was spooky enough when I taking pictures.

Click here to view the ice break from the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. (Click on the Next button to cycle through the ice break up pictures.) The webcam shot is looking out the opposite direction as the image below, so the cliff in the back on the left, is the same cliff on the right in the image below looking towards the webcam.

Frozen World

Mother nature provided an April’s Fool joke this morning. Daffodils and other early bulb flowers should be displaying bright colors but instead the trees are rattling with a new layer of ice and the gusty winds are blowing snowflakes around.

So for all the people who keep telling me spring is coming, the joke is on us as winter has latched on with mighty grips and is not letting go.

Nature’s Joke

Another month is ending and I haven’t decided if March is going out like a lion or a lamb. It definitely came in like a lion but today it is actually warm enough for rain at the moment so could be a lamb. But the ground is still buried under snow and the rain is supposed to switch to snow later tonight so doesn’t seem to lamb like to me. And some areas are being impacted with a blizzard so March is going out for a lion for them.

End of March

I’m glad the predicted sleet and freezing rain missed my area since I don’t like ice unless it is used to cool a drink on a hot summer day like a snow cone or when ice is creating unique formations in ice caves. There is beauty in the ice caves but not when ice is coating the roads or my sidewalk.

Narrow Icy Cave

All good things must come to an end. The Lake Superior ice caves will close after Sunday or sooner if the ice condition deteriorate rapidly this week. Nature provided a spectacular show this cold winter and it may not return in the upcoming years since it was five years since the last time the ice was stable to walk on to see. But while the ice caves will return to sea caves as the ice melts, nature will create another glorious show as wildflowers will add color to the landscape once all the snow is melted.

The End of Nature’s Ice Show