Ice Cold in Lough Atalia

Ice on Lough Atalia in Galway
Ice on Lough Atalia in Galway city.

We’ve had a very cold spell in Ireland this week, with temperatures falling to -6 or -7 Celcius  in the midlands or north of the country. In the Claddagh canal basin, the water froze as it did in the Harbour (I think the lock-gates may have been closed for a night or two). I didn’t get any pictures of the harbour but Kevin Crowley did [you can see his Flickr pictures here and here]. Back in March 2006, there was the coldest night for a decade and some ice formed in the harbour, but it didn’t last as long that time.

I ws surprised to see Lough Atalia frozen over. It is a salt-water lake (an inlet really) and there is quite a tidal current. But the water at the head of the inlet is quite still and that is where most of the ice formed. As you can see, the ice formed at high tide, and when the tide went out, the rocks peeked through the ice sheet.

More pictures of ice on Lough Atalia here.

2 thoughts

  1. What a startlingly beautiful picture!

    I live in South Africa, and we don’t get ice or snow (except on the highest mountains inland), so -6 or -7°C sounds SERIOUSLY cold to me.

    The lighting on that photo is just exquisite.

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