Ice boom removal at least two weeks away
BUFFALO -- Ice on Lake Erie "still has a long way to go" before it melts enough to remove the ice boom.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Steve McLaughlin said today about 50 percent of Lake Erie is still covered with ice.
Ice coverage needs to shrink below 250 square miles, or about 3 or 4 percent of the lake, before the New York Power Authority removes the boom, McLaughlin said.
"I would say you've got another two weeks, anyway, at least, before the ice is out of this area," McLaughlin said, "before the ice gets small enough to consider removing the boom."
McLaughlin said his best estimate for the ice boom removal is the last week of March.
Last year, the boom was removed on April 6, said Michael Saltzman, a spokesman for the New York Power Authority.
Saltzman said the ice boom is removed by April 1, unless there is 250 square miles of ice cover remaining in the eastern end of Lake Erie.
"With the recent warmer weather, the ice cover in the lake is dropping," Saltzman said. "During the next couple of weeks, we're planning flyovers of the lake in conjunction with the Niagara Board of Control to determine the square mileage of the ice coverage on the eastern end of the lake."
The boom's removal takes several days, depending on weather conditions.
The protective boom holds back ice floes from damaging shoreline properties in the Niagara River and jamming the New York Power Authority intakes for the Niagara Power Project.But McLaughlin said the removal of the ice boom -- often a sign that spring has arrived -- doesn't impact the weather.
"There's cold here because of the ice, yes, but the boom isn't the reason the ice is there," McLaughlin said. "The ice is there because it was cold all winter and it clogged up the lake."
Listen to McLaughlin describe the ice coverage and the ice boom in this audio clip:
The National Weather Service provides images of the ice cover in Lake Erie here.
-- Denise Jewell Gee
