Page 2 ■ Thursday, January 12, 2012


BAKKEN NEWS


Publisher


Brian Kroshus Editor


Cathryn Sprynczynatyk


Advertising Manager Kristin Wilson


Layout Design Jean Bertsch


For advertising


opportunities, please call 701-250-8212 or 866-476-5348.


After two days of record warmth over much of the region, another record may well be within reach.


TOM STROMME/Tribune The open water in the Missouri River channel between Bismarck and Mandan remains free in this photo taken on Jan. 4.


By BRIAN GEHRING Bismarck Tribune


The freeze-up record on Lake Saka- PO Box 5516


Bismarck, ND 58506-5516 701-223-2500


www.bismarcktribune.com Bakken Weekly is produced


by the Bismarck Tribune and distributed throughout the Williston Basin.


kawea could fall within the next few days. The latest date for freeze-up on the big


lake came Jan. 16, during the winter of 1999-2000.


Linda Phelps of the U.S. Army Corps


of Engineers offi ce in Riverdale said she was out on a fi eld trip Jan. 3 and saw that many of the reservoir’s back bays, which normally freeze over by now, have open water or thin ice covering them. The corps has tracked freeze-up and


ice-off on Lake Sakakawea since it was fi lled, dating to the winter of 1953-54. Corps records show the lake has always frozen over completely during the winter.


But if the freeze-up record is to remain


intact, Mother Nature has some work to do. “It’s going to take some cold, cold weather for an extended period of time,” Phelps said. The water temperature Jan 3 was 35


degrees on Lake Sakakawea and 41 de- grees on Lake Oahe. Offi cially, Sakakawea is frozen over when the lake freezes at the intake struc- ture at the dam. The chief mechanic on duty makes the call. Phelps said there were a few ice houses


Jan. 3 on Tobacco Bay, but other areas like Skunk Bay and McKenzie Bay, were barely iced over. The earliest date Lake Sakakawea has


ever frozen over was Nov. 23, 1955. The earliest date for ice-off was March


25, 2003, and the latest date for ice-off came on May 17, 1979. The shortest duration of ice cover on


Lake Sakakawea was during the winter of 2002-03 — 73 days — and the longest duration was 165 days during the 1955- 56 winter. Historical data on freeze-up and ice-


off dates on the Missouri River in Bis- marck-Mandan likely is not available, said Alan Schlaag, hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Bismarck. Schlaag said even during the coldest


of winters, there is open water on some stretches of the river. (Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 701- 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktri- bune.com.)


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16