Icy Bella Coola River

After a few days of well below freezing levels, the Bella Coola River starts to get ice along the margins and pans of slush ice drifting lazily downstream. The pans of ice brush along the margins and sometimes catch up and slowly the river gets smaller. If we have a prolonged cold spell the slow parts of the river will freeze over completely. The couple of mergansers I was watching seemed flustered by the pans of ice that were getting in their way.

Tonight the east wind has stopped and it's a very pleasant -9 C. It almost feels warm when you can go outside and not feel the sting of the wind. Apparently the snow phase is next for the Bella Coola Valley. Grizzly