Will the Bay Freeze?

Chesapeake could freeze if cold snap continues

With each passing day, the creeks and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay are filling with windowpanes of ice, beautiful to look at but capable of slicing through the hull of a boat with deadly precision.

Several weeks of teeth-chattering cold that triggered a massive fish kill, stranded duck hunters on an ice-choked island off Baltimore County and contributed to Maryland's first boating fatality also have put the state's ice-breaking fleet on standby to begin the great push back.

After a fast start to the ice-breaking season in December, sheets of frozen water are again starting to knit together in tributary shallows. Around the bay many places are close to the freezing mark, with the Chesapeake's coldest period still ahead...

 I guess the problem could be worse further up the Bay than where I see it, but IMHO, I've seen it freeze far further out earlier.  I remember ice you could walk on in November.  No photos from then, but here's one from Dec, 2000 which is far greater from anything we've seen this season here:

And while it won't rival the unrelenting conditions of the "Big Freeze" of 1977, when people walked and drove across the bay in the shadow of the Bay Bridge, this weekend's temperatures and 30-knot gusts were expected to accelerate the creation of massive ice plates.

"This winter is so cold right now, it's unbelievable," said John Gallagher, director of hydrographic operations for the Department of Natural Resources. "After this weekend, we're going to see some pretty good ice buildup. We think the season is about to spring wide open."

 I wasn't here for 1977, but I've heard stories of  about it.  It's interesting that 1977 was about when scientists were warning about colder climate, and the possibility of the start of a new ice age.