January and February have been brutally cold in 2015 for Eastern Canada and the United States. The effects of this cold on Niagara Falls have been well-covered in the media. At one point, the American Falls looked as if it was completely frozen over as an ice dome had formed to block out the flowing water from view.
On March 11, we took a two night visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario, staying at the Embassy Suites. The hotel had its good and bad, something we may just discuss in an upcoming article. One of the great things was the view from the room. Some of the images below were actually taken from inside our room on the 15th floor.
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Niagara Falls Spring Thaw
The state of partial thaw provided some pretty unique photography opportunities. I captured the action in the attached video at the bottom. Unfortunately, I missed capturing a massive piece of ice fracturing off the main chunk at the base of the Horseshoe Falls. I rumbled and crashed into the water, giving the impression we were beside a Greenland glacier and not in Southern Ontario.
All the images in this article were taken with an exposure of 1/4000th of a second to best freeze the power of the rushing volume of the Niagara River.
It’s hard to get a grip on the immense size of the ice above and below the waterfalls. The piece in the image just below that is sitting just above the crest looks small. However, my guess is that the leading edge is closer to 10-12 feet in height.
The massive ‘glacier like’ mounds of ice at the base of both the Horseshoe and American Falls I’m guessing to be at depths of 40-50 feet and possible more. How could this be when there is maybe a foot or two of snow on the ground in the city of Niagara Falls?
The waterfall creates it’s own little ecosystem. There is always a cloud of spray that is kicked up by the water crashing over the falls. That water has to fall back to earth somehow and somewhere. When the temperatures are well below freezing, the result is a constant 24 hour freezing rain/snow storm over a very small area. What looks like puffy snow in some of these images is actually solid, rock hard ice for the most part.
The above image is at the base of the Horseshoe Falls at the Table Rock edge. Just to the front of this is where the observation area for the Journey Behind the Falls attraction is. This viewing area is closed during the winter due to, obviously, the ice buildup.
Looking across at the American Falls, Mother Nature only needed a couple days of above zero temps to start carving through the ice.
The birds flying around in some of the images gives a bit of prospective. These are decent sized gulls and they look like specks against these backdrops.
The video below was taken at the same time as the images above. At times, the video looks low quality but what’s causing this is the mist being blown over a large area with some fairly strong winds.
Niagara Falls Spring Thaw Video
Yes, I know at times the name of this website should be ‘It’s About Travelling to Niagara Falls’. However, it’s close by for us and it really is one of the wonder of the world. There will be at least a couple more articles coming up shortly with one featuring some unique images of the waterfalls and ice taken long exposure at night with colourful illumination.
There will also be a look at Ripley’s Believe it or Not Niagara Falls on Clifton Hill – a very worthwhile attraction to visit. Then, as mentioned, there may be a review with images and video of Embassy Suites. I’m allowing myself a cooling down period to consider whether my negatives from the hotel are valid or just my personal opinion…
If you want something nearly as incredible when it comes to waterfalls with only a portion of the crowds, take a trip about an hour southeast of Buffalo, New York and check out Letchworth State Park. There are many waterfalls in the park, along the Genesee River. The feature is a series of three that all have heights around 100 feet.
