An historic nine-day stretch of below-freezing temperatures locked the Chesapeake Bay in over the end of January into February, stranding watermen at frozen marinas, triggering multiple rescues of duck hunters and leaving parts of the bay more than 90% covered in ice — the most extensive coverage since 2014.
The streak of subfreezing days in Maryland ended Monday. The longest stretch in recent history — 1966 — when the region endured 14 consecutive days below 32 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. By Monday, ice coverage had reached 35.7% across the bay, with some areas near the Bay Bridge showing more than 90% coverage on the Eastern Shore side.
The freeze has sparked a series of rescue operations by Maryland Natural Resources Police, the law enforcement arm of the Department of Natural Resources. On Jan. 28, seven duck hunters on a boat were rescued without injury off Tilghman Island…