Chesapeake Bay Locked in Ice

Residents of the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States endured a formidable winter in 2025-2026, marked by several high-impact storms and prolonged periods of cold temperatures that froze parts of the Chesapeake Bay. Longtime residents may remember a winter nearly 50 years ago, when the area experienced even more extensive ice coverage.

Landsat 1’s Multispectral Scanner System (MSS) captured this image during the exceptionally cold winter of 1976-1977. The mosaic combines two Landsat scenes acquired on February 7 and a third captured on February 8. The landscape is depicted in false colors (MSS bands 6-5-4), in which the ice appears in shades of blue, green and white. On land, snow appears white, vegetation is red, and urban areas take on brown-gray tones.

A NASA analysis published in 1980 used these and other Landsat images to examine abnormal ice conditions. The images indicate that ice began to form in the upper tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in late December 1976 and extended to the middle of the upper bay by mid-January 1977. It reached its maximum extent at the time of this image, a week in February, when ice covered 85 percent of the bay.

Persistent westerly winds in early February pushed ice toward the eastern shores of the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, contributing to visible fractures in the ice surface. As winds diminished, calmer conditions allowed new ice to form in areas of previously open water, visible in the image as thinner, darker blue spots. Reports from icebreaking operations indicated ice thickness was up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) in the upper bay and up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) in the lower bay, with some tributaries seeing double that.

Articles describing the event often show photos of people skating on the ice off Kent Island in front of the Bay Bridge and people driving cars and tractors on the ice. But the deep freeze also put a strain on the region. Ice and cold water have caused high mortality of shellfish in the area. And the crushing weight of ice moving with the tides has damaged many piers, marinas and lighthouses.

During the winter of 2025-2026, ice on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays appeared less extensive, with ice maps from the U.S. National Ice Center showing approximately 38% coverage on February 9-10. Still, concentrations in the upper bay and its tributaries this season were large enough to allow for unusual winter activities, including boaters crossing the frozen Claiborne Cove of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At the same time, it has created challenges for local boatmen, according to media reports, trapping boats and limiting access to the bay.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Mike Taylor, Ginger Butcher and Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from United States Geological Survey. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

• CBS News (February 9, 2026) Frozen Chesapeake Bay leaves Maryland sailors struggling during peak oyster season. Accessed February 26, 2026.
• Chesapeake Bay Magazine (January 16, 2025) Ice Heroes: A Maryland pilot’s first-hand account of the bay’s historic freeze-up of 1977. Accessed February 26, 2026.
• Foster, JL (March 1980) Ice Conditions in the Chesapeake Bay as Observed! of Landsat during the winters of 1977, 1978 and 1979. NASA Technical Memorandum, 80657.
• Library of Congress (July 28, 2023) The world as seen by ERTS-1. Accessed February 26, 2026.
• NASA (February 13, 2026) Landsat 1 Graphics Library. Accessed February 26, 2026.
• NASA (February 12, 2026) Tired of freezing temperatures? For ice boaters, they have been a godsend. Accessed February 26, 2026.
• East Coast Secrets (January 16, 2022) The Great East Coast Freeze of 1976-77! Accessed February 26, 2026.
• United States National Ice Center (February 26, 2026) Mid-Atlantic ice map. Accessed February 26, 2026.