Lighthouses

These beautiful pictures of the ice-covered lighthouses at the St. Joseph North Pier on the coast of Lake Michigan might make you feel colder just by looking at them. The lighthouses in these pictures by photographers Thomas Zakowski and Tom Gill are so completely frozen over that they look like fantastic icy fairy-tale towers out of “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

The two lighthouses, both of which were built over a century ago, freeze over when the winter winds and waves on Lake Michigan cover the towers in icy spray. The shorter outer tower, which was built in 1906, stands 35 ft tall (10.5m). The second inner tower, built in 1907, is 57 ft (17.4) tall. The two are linked by a catwalk which, when covered in ice and rime, makes for a truly impressive sight. The lighthouses’ exposed position makes them a popular destination for sightseers looking for magnificent icicles or crashing waves on the shores of Lake Michigan. They will probably grow a new coat of ice this coming winter as well, so photographers, get your cameras ready!

Lake Michigan is one of the five North-American Great Lakes, and is the only one located entirely inside the U.S.A. The great lakes are so enormous that they generate their own weather patterns for the surrounding region.