This is a NOAA 14 weather satellite view of Lake Simcoe the day
after about 300 ice fisherman were rescued from the ice. On Saturday,
Jan 25, 1997 high winds created giant cracks in the ice, stranding
the fisherman. Most were sheltered from the 5 deg F temperatures by
heated fishing huts. Military helicopters were used in the rescue
effort and a C-130 Hecules was used to drop flares over the ice covered
lake in the hours of darkness to attempt to warn fisherman in their huts
not to try driving back to shore. The cost of the rescue was about $300,000.
This image shows a daytime view of ice covered Lake Simcoe made from
channel 1 (the visible channel) of the NOAA AVHRR sensor.
The satellite passed over this area at about 1:30 PM in the afternoon.
The blockiness of the image is due to the limited resolution of the sensor.
Arrows point to a giant crack in the ice. This image is part of
a larger view in which
Lake Ontario is seen to the south, dark since it is not yet covered with ice;
Toronto appears as a dark gray area on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
A map of the area gives a better
idea of the location of Lake Simcoe.