Lack of ice fuels Miller trips to, from PIB

CATAWBA ISLAND- It's an odd sight in mid-January to see a passenger ferry emerge from a chalky sheet of fog, with a spooky silhouette of Mouse Island lurking behind it, and plod through Lake Erie's choppy waters toward a nearby dock.

Normally, a thick sheet of ice would cover the lake and make it impassable by ferry.

But not this year.

Miller Boat Line resumed its daily vehicle and passenger ferry trips to Put-in-Bay on Monday, the third time in roughly a month the company has restarted its service to South Bass Island.

Bill Market, Miller's owner and general manager, said his company has been at Catawba 35 years. He can only remember a couple of other times — including 2014 — where the temperatures were warm enough that ferry service could operate on the lake at this time of year.

"This is highly unusual with the rollercoaster weather we've had," Market said Friday.

Market said the Miller ferries were running Dec. 13, then shut down for a couple of weeks before restarting service toward the end of December. After closing again due to ice reforming on the lake, Miller reopened Jan. 16 with the warmer temperatures thawing the lake.

Temperatures were in the 50-degree range Friday, with fog reducing visibility on the water to about 350 yards.

One of the Miller ferries arriving from Put-in-Bay could be heard by the bellow of its horn a couple of times Friday afternoon, but was not seen until right before it reached the company's dock.

Kurt Lombardy, a meteorologist in Cleveland's National Weather Service Office, said in an average year, ice would cover Lake Erie's western basin by this time of year.

The La Nina weather pattern is the culprit for the warmer weather this year, Lombardy said.

Lake Erie water temperatures are at about 34 degrees, with storms breaking up any ice lingering from earlier in the season.

Lombardy said this La Nina has resulted in winter weather conditions that have been all over the map, with extensive ice cover on the lake earlier in the season and unseasonably warm weather in recent days and weeks that has prevented the ice from forming and establishing a foothold.

That warmer-than-normal weather should continue through the latter part of next week, Lombardy said.

The National Weather Service is forecasting daytime temperatures in the 40s through Thursday, with nighttime temperatures expected to remain above freezing.

Katrina Reed, Miller's communications manager, said the boat line would shut down again if weather conditions get bad.

She said whether Miller's ferries will run depends on whether the lake is frozen, wind conditions, how rough the water is and how much ice has formed on the docks.

During the week, the ferries have transported some islanders getting supplies or checking on their cottages, Market said. He said there have also been construction vehicles loaded on the ferries for trips to and from Put-in-Bay.

"Traffic has been medium at best," Market said.

Market said that, based on the long-range forecast, Miller should be operating through next weekend. He said the company will need to get its boats into harbor before the temperatures drop below freezing and ice reforms on the lake.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter:@DanielCarson7