Does the Great Salt Lake Freeze?

According to Wikipedia, salinity of water is measured by parts per thousand and not by percentage. However, they also have charts that convert PPT to a percentage. The ocean is made up of many salts and minerals, and it is said to be water and 3% to 5% of these "solids". They write, "The salinity of the lake's main basin, Gilbert Bay, is highly variable and depends on the lake's level; it ranges from 5 to 27% (50-270 parts per thousand).[4] For comparison, the average salinity of the world ocean is 3.5% (35 parts per thousand)[25] and 33.7% in the Dead Sea. Great Salt Lake's waters are slightly enriched in potassium and depleted in calcium.[4]"

In any case, I always assumed it was pretty salty and I didn't think it would freeze. I took a group from the eastern US out to the island on Friday after a day of skiing, and I was surprised to see a pile of ice about 100 - 200 yds long on the north side of the causeway. It was kind of late, long past sunset, but I took a photo with my camera phone anyway.

We talked to Ron Taylor, the park ranger, and he said that this is not uncommon from year to year. We were NOT experiencing ice floes from rivers. The water from inlets flows into the lake, and instead of mixing with the denser salt water, it floats on top of it. We have had some bitter cold temps in January, and apparently that water solidified - a little over an inch thick. Then, the strong winds that we had, blew the ice onto the causeway, and in some cases, large sheets of the ice crawled up and over the chunks below it forming another single layer.

Ron also said that his asst ranger had taken the state boat to the south marina that day, and that in some cases he was acting as an ice-cutter as he powered through ice on the south end of the lake. I was fascinated.

Playing tour guide, I wanted to show the guests the brine shrimp that are so plentiful in summer. I wasn't too optimistic, but I tried to "fish" for some at the marina docks, but the water there also had about 1/4" of ice on the surface. I scooped a stryofoam cup into the water, and though I didn't find any live shrimp, there were a couple of dead ones well-preserved and floating in the water.

The bison cooperated for photo-ops, and were out in force, and we got to see some pronghorn as well. There's always something to see on the island, but now if anyone ever asks you if the lake freezes, you can say that it does. And here's the pictures to prove it.