- Allen
- Auglaize
- Crawford
- Darke
- Defiance
- Erie
- Fulton
- Hancock
- Hardin
- Henry
- Huron
- Logan
- Lorain
- Lucas
- Mercer
- Morrow
- Ottawa
- Paulding
- Putnam
- Richland
- Sandusky
- Seneca
- Shelby
- Van Wert
- Williams
- Wood
- Wyandot
Ice Shove, Ice Surge, Ice Heave, Shoreline Ice Pileup are terms common for sometimes spectacular winter events around large bodies of water. It happens when a layer of ice forms and is then forced to move from high winds and currents in the water. The thickness of the ice can sometimes be less than an inch thick, other times it can be extremely thick. Thin ice shoves sound like a tinkling of breaking glass; large ice shoves sound like continuous thunder.
During the winter of 2018, some interesting events converged on Port Clinton that brought national and international attention to Port Clinton. It also became the place to visit.
Port Clinton's 2018 Great Ice Shove on January 20, 2018
That January ice began forming earlier than at any time in recent history. The first week of 2018 had unusually cold temperatures in the single digits. Then on Sunday, January 7, temperatures began to rise and by Thursday they had soared into the 50s which created a series of events.
The cold temperatures had frozen the ice to anywhere from 4 to 8 inches. Snowmobilers were already testing the ice making ready for the great ice fishing to come. The sudden increase in temperature however, made the ice unstable. Wednesday 51, Thursday 59 and on Friday a rapid decline set in. An arctic cold front was sweeping down across the lake bringing cold temperatures, high winds and strong currents.
Lake Erie on the southwestern corner is extremely shallow. When large low pressure storms form in the north and push south, Lake Erie along the Marblehead Peninsula can increase in depth by as much as 5 feet creating dramatic currents that slams into the shoreline. During the warmer months these storms create dramatic waves that slam into the rocky shorelines. In the winter months under the right conditions those waves are waves of ice that shove into the shoreline and just continue to move across the surface like a slow moving tsunami.
By Friday afternoon the a wall of ice was building up along West Lakeshore Drive. Here West Lakeshore Drive is located on a narrow strip of land that that forms a peninsula between Port Clinton and Lake Erie. This winter West Lakeshore Drive had been turned into a dead-end road thanks to construction on the draw bridge connected the drive with Port Clinton. That meant if the ice continued on its path, electricity to the narrow peninsula would be lost and anyone in the towering condos would also be cut off until the road could be cleared. Officials began issuing voluntary evacuation warnings on Friday afternoon. By Friday evening West Lakeshore Drive was closed.
Construction on SR 163 Lift Bridge
As the ice began moving up and onto West Lakeshore Drive, large front end loaders were brought in to move the ice. It was feared that an ice dam might form just off shore that could quickly break lose breaking down the string of electric and telephone poles and block the road.
By 11 p.m. the potential disaster was avoided and the road was reopened. By Sunday afternoon thanks to local and national news West Lakeshore Drive had become a parking lot of sorts with the large number of tourists arriving to see the Great Shove of 2018.
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