ice remained south of Cape Bonavista and by the end of the month 

 there was none south of Cape Freels. 



During April the sea ice in the gulf gradually melted with limits 

 shrinking, so that by the end of the month the entire central gulf was 

 ice free with remnants of sea ice between Prince Edward Island and 

 Cape Breton Island, the usual heavy winter ice in the Northeast Arm 

 and Belle Isle Strait, and an area of open pack ice close along the 

 northeast and southeast coasts of Cape Breton Island. The St. 

 Lawrence Seaway opened on schedule on the 15th. For the plot of 

 ice sighted and reported during April, see figure 15. 



MAY 



Flights made on 30 April and 1 May searched all areas of suspected 

 ice north to Belle Isle Strait. There were only 19 bergs south of 

 Belle Isle, with 7 of these offshore, all south of 48° N., 5 aground on 

 the east coast of Avalon Peninsula, 5 aground near Cape Bonavista, 

 and 2 near Fogo Island. See figure 10 for ice conditions on 1 May. 

 Of the seven offshore bergs, five were small with an estimated survival 

 of less than 10 days and two were medium sized with an expected 

 survival of less than 15 days in the average 35°-36° F. water. A flight 

 on the 11th along the north and northeast slopes of the Grand Banks 

 and along the east coast of Newfoundland revealed only one small 

 offshore berg remaining at 47°25' N., 48°15' W. This berg was last 

 reported as a growler on the 15th, 30 miles to the southeast, and is 

 believed to have disintegrated shortly thereafter. Three bergs 

 remained on the east coast of Avalon Peninsula. These bergs in the 

 colder 32°-33° F. water were able to last longer than the offshore 

 bergs and were expected to deteriorate by the end of the month. 



With the disintegration of the lone offshore berg in mid-May, the 

 threat of ice to the Grand Banks no longer existed, at least until the 

 second week of June. It was now highly unlikely that major trans- 

 atlantic shipping would be threatened by bergs this year. The threat 

 to those ships using the more northern tracks E and F would have to 

 come from bergs near Belle Isle or northward. 



As stated previously, the April surface winds north of the Grand 

 Banks along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts were consistently 

 easterly throughout the month, driving all the bergs aground in these 

 regions, temporarily delaying their transport to the south. This 

 weather pattern abruptly changed in early May as a northward shift 

 of the Azores High brought warm southwesterly winds across the 

 Grand Banks, Newfoundland, and south Labrador until the end of 

 May. As expected, the many bergs suspected aground north of Belle 

 Isle were freed to continue their interrupted journey south. On 10 

 May, Belle Isle reported 26 large bergs to the north and east. A flight 

 on 14 May to Belle Isle revealed about 45 bergs near Belle Isle. The 

 sea ice which had been compacted close along the northeast New- 



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