Yesterday, we gathered at the upstairs windows here in the office and watched as spring thunderstorms blew in across Lake Medota and set a giant slab of ice drifting past Hasler Lab. The sheet of ice appeared to be roughly a quarter the size of the lake itself. If was truly astonishing, like observing some sped up demonstration of plate tectonics. Unfortunately, no recorded (usable) visual evidence survived.
Last night’s storms, however, blew in with a vengeance just as ice was coming off and breaking up into tiny floes. This morning we were greeted with the aftermath:
“Wind + loose ice = scenically situated bench’s worst nightmare,” wrote CFL grad student, Jake Walsh.
“Steve Carpenter says he can’t remember this type of ice since the 1980’s,” reports Denise Karns. “In my decade here, I don’t remember it sharding like this.”
Indeed, it was an impressive display. Just another reminder that, in Wisconsin, winter often takes the long goodbye – and a few scenic benches with it.