Time Lapse Of Lake Michigan Ice Break Is Stunning

In this still from a time lapse of Lake Michigan, a large
crack appears as a huge sheet of ice separates from 
near shore ice in Chicago.

 During that intense cold wave a couple weeks ago, large swaths of Lake Michigan finally froze over.  

Since the ice was fairly thin, it wasn't very stable.  It was prone to gusty winds that could break up much of the ice. 

Which led to a spectacular time lapse video from last weekend.  A huge section of ice broke off from the rest of the ice hugging the Chicago shore. 

In the time lapse, you can see an immense crack form, then the ice departs "out to sea," as it were.

Nobody was on that ice, so nobody had to be rescued. 

Sometimes, though, you have people on ice that breaks away from shore and floats away.  This scenario necessitates helicopter rescues and such. 

Elsewhere on Lake Michigan, a big chunk of ice with 66 ice anglers on it broke away near Green Bay, Wisconsin in early February. They all had to be rescued via boats that can cut through ice. Nobody was injured. 

A few days later, about two dozen ice fishing enthusiasts had to be similarly rescued on Lake Superior.

Here in Vermont back in 1988, 21 people had to be rescued by helicopter on Lake Champlain when the ice they were on broke away from Charlotte and floated northward amid strong south winds. 

Without further ado, here's that wild video of the ice breaking away from Chicago. As always, click on the YouTube logo to make the video bigger and easier to see.