By Jim Hilton
Over the sunny weekend I was fortunate to have one of those special times standing on the middle of an ice-covered lake surrounded by snow-clad mountains.
As usual, the ice cracks, animal tracks and geese, swans and ravens flying overhead added to the memorable Chilcotin event. Even with the warm sunny weather I was not worried about weak ice since it took considerable time to make a ice hole to get my water for the cabin.
By the late afternoon there were wet patches which froze again at night and the small drifts of snow reminded me of desert sands, but on a much smaller scale.
The intricate snowdrifts reminded me of another rare event I witnessed a few years ago. At that time there did not seem much on the internet about naturally occurring snowballs and snow-rollers. This time there was lots of information about this rare meteorological phenomenon where 45 km / hour winds causes falling snow to naturally form snowballs and rollers that resemble small rolls of toilet paper.
I wrote an article a few years ago about this happening on Sapeye Lake and my assumption is that with so many cell phones this rare event is being recorded more often.
With only a iron bore to make ice holes I was not about to make many test holes but was confident that the cold snap in January resulted in a substantial thickness of ice.
According to a recent radio program many northern communities rely on the right amount of cold weather (six to eight weeks) by the first of February to make the critical ice highways to getting their year’s supply of materials. By mid February 2024 only a handful of the usual 800 loads had made their way north. If this trend continues some communities may be faced with building all-year roads which could cost millions of dollars.
Another article described the importance of ice roads for the northern diamond mines. The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is one of the world’s longest heavy-haul ice roads, stretching roughly 400 kilometres and servicing three N.W.T. diamond mines. The ice must be at least 73 centimetres thick before it can open and 99 centimetres for full load capacity.
A 2021 study from the American Meteorological Society says global warming of 2 C could tip the ice roads into needing costly adaptation measures. That could mean replacing river crossings with structural bridges, building all-weather road segments in problem areas, relocating over-ice segments to land and improved ice monitoring and spraying ice to increase thickness.
Another important consideration is developing local energy sources so that importing fossil fuels is reduced. Limits on trees for biomass power the farther north we go, along with shorter winter days limiting solar panels, but maybe wind power is more reliable along with small nuclear reactors if and when they are available might be the answer.
READ MORE: FOREST INK: Bio fuel or bioenergy from logging residuals
READ MORE: FOREST INK: Forests critical for maintaining a healthy earth
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