Montrose Harbor - Frozen

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montrose_harbor_winter
Approaching Snow Storm
Montrose Harbor
Lake Michigan
Chicago, Illinois

Below zero temperatures have turned Lake Michigan into a dangerous but beautiful sheet of ice. Standing close to the ice in the cold wind, you can hear loud pops and groans as the ice moves and cracks. Under tremendous pressure, sheets of ice on lakes have been known to crack, break free and fly upward several feet!

The aid to navigation seen here looks like a mini lighthouse. The red banding near the top tells boaters to keep left of this aid to navigation when returning to the harbor. There is another lighthouse shaped marker on the other side of the harbor entrance with green bands, this tells the boater to stay to the right of the marker when returning to the harbor. It's simple to keep these rules in mind: Red, right, returning! Keep the red channel markers (called nuns) to the right of the boat when returning from the ocean or lake - or traveling upstream. The green channel markers (called cans) should be kept to the left. This way, boaters are certain to be on a safe course - even at night.

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