Icy Narrowing

The ice spreads like a sclerosis on the river, tightening its grip. A blood vessel with the look of the picture above might lead to trouble.  Again and again, I am struck by the forms frozen water takes.  The hard edges have grown thick enough that the stream has room to undercut them, while flowing beneath the ice as well.  The different stages of hardening leave a record, with striations and varying shades telling the story of water meeting cold in a myriad of subtle moves.  The remaining smooth and open curve, like a snake rounding a corner, reveals the main current, too fast, so far, to freeze.  With a week of cold temperatures ahead, the channel will shrink.  In 36 hours or less, the flow will be invisible, with ice from bank to bank, not subtle at all, but solid.  We have seen it before.