Ice breaking for Thunder Bay port to start Tuesday

Superior Morning6:31Ice Patrol - Tim Armstrong

When Tim Armstrong started taking aerial photos of the ice melting on Lake of the Woods, and posting them online, he never imagined the response he got. A new season is now online.

Temperatures are warming up and the clocks have 'sprung forward;' now there's another sign that spring is almost here.

The Canadian Coast Guard is advising that ice breaking operations in the Port of Thunder Bay are slated to start on Tuesday.

The work will be done by the United States Coast Guard cutter Alder, Canadian officials confirmed in a news release.

The vessel, which is home ported in Duluth, Minn. will break up the ice and establish tracks to assist commercial shipping into and out ofthe port. Officials are warning people that the work will make the ice in the area unsafe during and after the ship passes through.

"Broken and fragmented icy tracks left behind .... may not freeze over immediately," the release stated. "[Any] newly fallen snow may obscure....ship tracks and changes in weather contribute to unsafe ice conditions that may remain long after the ships have left the area."

The coast guard said the ice breaking is scheduled is take two days.