Yes ladies and gentlemen, that piece of ice you're looking at is about ten feet high and at least 15 inches thick. And it's one of the smaller ones left behind by the most kick-butt ice out we've ever had here.
Usually, we have warnings that the ice is going to flush out of here. Sometimes we see large chunks floating downstream. Most often, the ice floes that have been in place for many weeks break up. You can hear the bigger pieces rumble against one another while the small pieces of ice—we refer to them as the slushies around here—hiss as they thread their way among their bigger companions in cold.
But this year, as with so much else this winter, was different.
It was warm and rainy on both Saturday and Sunday but the ice formations looked just the same as they did on Friday. Jay and I figured we'd start to see some breaking up on Monday, maybe Tuesday.
Then about 5:15, I was in my office on the river side of the house when I heard this roaring. I thought the wind had come up.
But then Jay started hollering and ran down the stairs. "The ice is out," he said and I joined him at the windows to watch.
We had just enough light left to see the water come up very, very fast and high. The substantial gravel bank we call Atlantis disappeared as we watched, in less than 30 seconds.
And then the last of the sun faded and all we had was darkness.
Of course, as soon as Monday morning came, we were back at the windows. The ice chunks are stacked up on both banks of the river at least eight feet high. Large sheets of ice flowed up onto the rocks across from the house. And this one particular piece pictured here, which I can see from my office window, was upended.
This stuff isn't going to be melted until some time late in April.
What a winter.
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