The ice formation on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, as it appeared Wednesday, can’t really be called a disk anymore, as recent warm weather has taken a toll on its shape. (Courtesy photo by Tina Radel/City of Westbrook)
Westbrook’s world famous ice disk started moving again Wednesday, but it also melted some more, indicating that the natural phenomenon’s final days are numbered.
The City of Westbrook, which has been monitoring the ice disk’s health for more than three weeks, posted aerial drone photographs of the disk on Facebook Wednesday afternoon.
The photographs show the Presumpscot River disk has lost its circular shape and most of its beauty, which in its early days, at least from the air, made it look like a blue moon. As the disk has deteriorated, it has started to flatten out and spread across the river.
“With the warm temperatures melting away the ice, the disk was on the move today. It rotated a bit and then got hung up again,” Tina Radel, Westbrook’s drone operator and communications manager, wrote on Facebook. “The ice disk’s time may be limited with unseasonably warm temperatures upon us.”
The National Weather Service said Portland set a new high temperature on Tuesday of 62 degrees, breaking the record for that date set in 2005.
The 300-foot wide ice disk formed on the Presumpscot River Jan. 14. Since it appeared, tens of thousands of people have visited Westbrook to catch a glimpse of the disk, which in its early days continuously spun counterclockwise.
Scientists from Brown University even set up a Webcam on the river that provides viewers with timelapse photography of the disk.
Radel said the Webcam, which is being used for research purposes, will remain in operation through the spring.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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