Caution To Boaters
 

I promise this is not a thread about watching for debris! There will be enough of those coming up in the upcoming days! :) This is to caution all boaters who are thinking about venturing out this weekend in their boats...

I watched from my deck in Gilford last night and this morning, massive amounts of both large and small ice chunks floating by in and around the broads all being blown in from the still frozen areas of the northern sections of the lake.

While this is obviously normal during ice out, what is not normal is the thickness of this ice! With the wind tearing up the lake as quickly as it did, the floating ice is still very unusually thick for ice out time. I stopped by the Glendale docks and physically took one of these ice chunks out of the water to measure the thickness and it measured 8 1/2" thick and it is solid!!

There is still a lot of ice in the northern section of the lake and most of that will get blown south. If you hit any of these chunks large or small with your boat you will be in trouble.

Go slow, be on the lookout and be safe.

Safe ventures to all!

Dan

Thanks Dan, we do not often worry but like you said it broke up so quickly it is much thicker and poses a much greater risk

Keep in mind to that it'll probably drag around and break a lot of markers too. Bet the MP will have their hands full this spring as well.

Remember the Titanic!

Better every day
 

It continues to be an unusual year. After a record early ice-in at Thanksgiving, the north-east part of the lake appears to be later than the broads to ice out. Normally, it is the other way around.

Excellent advice. Thanks. Also remember that if you accidentally fall in water this cold you don't last long. Be careful!

I picked a 2x6x8' piece of PT out of the water yesterday and I can see another floating about 30' out. I'd hate to hit that doing 30 mph.

Ice question.
 

OK, here is one for you science folks.

The ice on the Lake was solid as steel this winter. So when it breaks up due to sun, temperature and wind how does it get full of air bubbles?

Misty Blue.

Ice Question
 

Air is dissolved in the water and trapped in the ice when it forms. The grayer the ice, the more trapped air the blacker/ clearer the ice the less air. So to your question , it does not get in, its always there:)