Official 2020 Ice Out Thread
 

Here you go folks. Post here about this year’s ice out. I think it will be quite early. You can watch the progress on the lake’s many web cams at http://www.rattlesnakecam.com/watch.htm

Post your pics and videos on this thread.

The lake temp is warm enough for the ice to go out and there is water along many shores. It’ coming soon!

IG

Now there's some good news to get the day started!

I'm already looking at the buffer and polish.

Ice Movement
 

I think we will see some serious movement between today and tomorrow. Expected high temperatures this afternoon, along with rain (possible thunderstorms) and a bit of wind. The wind duration will be the key.

Ice Out
 

Can someone give an update to Ice Conditions on Lily Pond in Gilford?

Yes, but if you bring the family you will need a good sized boat to keep up with "social distancing".

Just saw a small aluminum out on the bear island cam

hope he was the ice breaker lol

I heard that someone went through the ice at Lily...no other details otherwise.

Fat bike rider
 

Union Leader reported that a man riding a fast bike went through the ice 250-300 ft from shore. Turns out that would be rte 11B (?). Fact is that he broke through maybe 60 ft from right below the Bypass of ramp. Yesterday it was still overall ice locked.

Dave

Getting closer
 

Fog eats ice...

Lily
 

Lily pond is 50% open water as of 6:00 PM today.

From my vantage point overlooking the broads, ice will be going out very soon and I see no reason why I won’t be quarantined on Welch island next Saturday!!

Dan

P.S. Don can you combine the other ice out thread with this one...

Easter on East Bear???
 

Does this seem like a possibility given the current conditions / forecasts?....

We are shooting for Easter on Mark... I think it'll happen!

Open water between Pine and Bear islands.

Guaranteed at this rate. May be gone by the end of the month. Hopefully your boat is socially distanced in storage.

Not to worry... I had a premonition about this whole virus thing and had them wrap it with Lysol wipes...

Ice out
 

Lots of open water in the broads this morning! The wind is really making things move!

Get your boats ready!!

Dan

Yeah, the warmer weather is helping, and the wind is really doing its thing! The ice on Mirror Lake is disappearing before my eyes.

Check out the Webcam: http://www.mirrorlakenh.com/cam.htm

It may be possible to kayak all the way around the lake at this point. Wouldn't want to fall in !! That water is C-O-L-D :D

The "aliens" are getting restless, Dan!

Progress
 

I’m guessing ice out in less than two weeks....

Hopefully. Passing time with a line in the water is a positive


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Busted!
 

I promise I was well more than 6’ from anyone!!

I did make it to Pine and them broke through the ice to get to Bear... still some pretty thick parts... but shouldn’t be too long now... although the forecast for the beginning of next week isn’t looking so positive

It is officially spring!! -PIG

Rattlesnake Landing today
 

This afternoon at Rattlesnake’Landing

Broads - Wolfeboro Neck looking out to Rattlesnake.

After lots of progress and ice movement yesterday, it was in the teens last night and only now cracking 20 degrees, so most open areas have a thin skim back on.

Better?
 

Looked Good Enough To Rotate

Attachment 15701


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From Smith Point 3/22Attachment 15702Attachment 1[ATTACH]1[/ATTACH


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Ellacoya
 

A few pics from Ellacoya this morning...

It’s almost always 34 degrees at this point. I have taken water temps through an ice fishing hole in the past and again it was 34 degrees.

Dan

Honestly, I don’t understand why the water under a frozen lake isn’t 32.1 degrees but it never is...always seems to be 34.

I too am fascinated and follow water temps religiously through the season mainly to target salmon. It’s amazing what just a couple degrees difference can make especially during early spring fishing.

Dan

Still guys fishing on it up in tuftonboro my buddy said.

401K Going The Wrong Way!
 

Agree, now if we can only afford the gas in a few weeks!

North side of Welch opening up.

Rain on the way
 

Rain, rain, come our way, rid the lake of ice today....

Snow snow on the way..
Insulate the ice for a longer stay!
:D

I know a techie that has a T-shirt- "I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you!"

Very frustrating- You know how THEY are! :emb:

After the snow
Attachment 15716


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I have that shirt, but it starts with "I'm an Engineer....":laugh:

Kinda like..
 

Kinda like "six months ago I couldn't spell enjunear but now I are one. ". 🤔

Dave

Lily Pond: no ice in sight this morning.

Alan


By the way, I are an engineer

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it will be a while on Tuftonboro bay
 

Looking East towards camp Northwoods

3-24-20
 

Here’s a few pics just taken at 6:30 PM today.... The first one is a panorama of the second two.

Dan

wow...looks like you could launch out of Ellacoya and make it to the southern shore of Welch with very little ice breaking. Of course HUGE risk of having a sheet of ice crush your boat against the shore line there should a southern wind kick up.

Soon....very soon...

contest
 

where is the link to the "ice Out" contest?
Thanks!

Here you go
 

Note the contest ended Feb 29th.

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/index.php?pageid=iceout

Dave

Don’t know how thick it is but still plenty of ice out thereAttachment 15728


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Attachment 15732


Long Island looking at gunstock.


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The view from the MODIS satellite today

Almost all clear on the Broads
 

These photos are facing Parker Island and Rattlesnake Island (looking south from Wolfeboro Neck)

Was on the dock today putting my bumpers on and to my surprise a snowmobile flew by then another on 19 mile bay. These two guys rode a rode around a good half hour. Still guys ice fishing too.

This Morning!
 

These pics taken this morning from Lincoln Park!!

Welch Island here I come!!

woohoo!!! guess i had better get to work on the boat!

Yesterday from Morse Preserve
 

Yesterday from Morse Preserve looking towards the Ossipees.

Dave

Plenty of trolling waters right there Dan! Have fun and make up for time missed last season!

Amen to that Hill!!

Dan

Glendale and Belknap Point today:

It looks closed from Glendale to FL 26 today but should be open tomorrow.

Quite a bit of ice north of the route out to Welch much of which will get blown south today likely headed for Wolfeboro bay.

Smith cove today is more than half iced in.

Alan

Not long now
 

The wind is grinding away at the ice.

It’s heading to Wolfbouro
 

From Alton Mountain- end of Alton Bay out to broads

And by this evening...
 

Almost gone...

Attachment 15751Looks open from Smith Point to Rattlesnake



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Love seeing all these pictures. With the marinas not staffed by the stay at home order I wonder how many will be getting a later start than usual. Has anyone heard how this may effect those that depend on the Marinas services?

For those of us who pay for inside storage, it effects us greatly! We typically open the house the weekend after ice out and are there til the first week of November. My wife works from home so once she's there she's all set, while I have to commute to my " essential " job in Dover. I was planning on opening up next weekend, but was told I may not be able to get either boat out of storage til sometime in May. I'm looking into borrowing a friends extra boat to get us through in the meantime. I do understand that the marinas are looking out for their employees, but it's gonna cause me to rethink storage options at the end of the season.

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Gas docks
 

If Marinas are closed is it correct to assume all gas docks on the lake will be closed?

Alton Bay is open up to about 1/2 mile north of Sandy Point. Then mostly ice up to the top of the bay.

Smith Cove looks ice free.

The north side of Welch still looks iced in.

Looks like still floating ice up in the Timber, Round and 40 Islands area.

After today’s rains and above freezing weather, the ice can’t be long for this world!

Not exactly about ice, but it seemed like the lake was low when I was up yesterday but the chart I found shows it's in the upper average range. Are we really above average and did we have enough precipitation to keep it up?

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Lily pond
 

Lily Pond has been Wide open for a couple of days

If Lilly Pond has been ice free for two days then Winni should be open in about twelve more days assuming a typical two week spread.

My 4/8 guess is looking mighty good!

It was open 5 days ago, post #48

Lake level is nice and high. This graph is spot on. I check it regularly because when it’s <3.0 the water can get a little low for the boat lift.

https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/.../graph2020.jpg

That's what I was looking at yesterday, but it just seemed low at my association's docks. Maybe the ramp area I was at needs to be dredged or the docks' water stains are from excessive levels.

Thanks!

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Still ice in Smith cove.

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Today’s report from Mink Island
 

Just slush moving around now.

Thanks for your 1st post, we drove down by the GYC but did not get out to be able to see the whole cove.

No ice this morning in Smith cove! Sent from my SM-N960U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Getting closer
 

Hopefully it will be gone by the weekend

All clear north of Mink Island!
 

Beautiful Spring morning

Does anyone have any visibility to the ice conditions between Shep Browns and Bear island? Can you launch and get out of that area?

I'm looking to travel to Long Island bridge from that area OR to head south past Cattle Landing and down toward the Witches and beyond....anyone know what the ice conditions are on those routes????

Oh, so close. The Shep Brown's "24/7-365" live feed is showing as offline:
https://www.shepbrowns.com/live-lake-cam

There are cameras at the tip of Bear, showing passage between Bear and Pine:
http://www.bearchow.com/

looking at the Varney Point cam, I don't see any ice from there to Timber.

From the Crow's Nest Lookout
 

Looks like ice is still ready to welcome anyone headed above Five Mile Island and over to Long Island. Looks like open water below Bear Island. 🐻

Tuesday, March 31: 3-pm
 

I drove up to the Lovejoy Sand's-Shep's town and private docks yesterday at about 3-pm and took a good look around.

Going south from Shep's to Bear Island looked very blocked by a lot of ice.

Going north from Shep's to the post office dock looked probably doable by going out north just a little past Pine Island and then coming back to the Bear Island dock .... in case you want to pick up your mail.

From the Cattle Landing town dock, it was totally ice free going south to Dolly, Mark, Timber, and Governor's.

From the Cattle Landing town dock, going north, it was all solid ice from the main land across to Rock Island area, and not doable.

My cameras on north Bear show open water. However the Pine Island CAM shows ice over near Moultonborough Neck.

http://www.charlesyoung.com/pineislandeast.jpg

There is a live Cam on Bear facing Shep's that shows ice but I am told you can get around it by staying to the north near shore. That Cam has time lapse.

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboa...slanders2002/1

Lake Cams
 

Rattlesnakecam.com is a great resource for seeing different areas of the lake. It includes the Islanders2002 webcam on Bear that looks south towards Shep Browns that Bear Islander references.

thanks everyone...I use the RattleSnake webcams several times per day but the ones in the areas I am asking about don't have time stamps on them and frequently when cams go out they keep the last picture posted. The poor ice out progress in Sheps had me thinking it was stuck at last week.

Strange ice out for me. Usually when I see Rattlesnake cams showing open water, the cams in Sheps and off Pine are either already open or open within a day or two. The Shep cam shows what looks like another weeks worth of ice.

Lol...like everyone, I get pretty antsy to get out on the water as i get closer to first launch day of the season (which for me is Saturday).

Be careful and be safe out there...this is the time of year that dangerous debris is floating (sometimes just under the waterline) and hoping to sink an vessel that doesn't see it.

Look at them at night. If you see a daylight picture, then it is frozen.

Clear by Melvin Village
 

We live near Geneva Point. All visible ice between Geneva Point and Melvin Village is gone. Saw our first boater this past Saturday and a couple of more out yesterday. The loons are back nd we’ve seen the eagles as well

Attachment 15784

Yesterday, Long Island looking at Gunstock.


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Ice-Out Guesses
 

Where are this year's ice-out guesses posted?

Can't find them to save my life.

An ice out declaration must be imminent with these fierce winds!

2020 Guesses
 

Winni.com home page
 

Go to this site's home page. There's a link, I think, on the left side.

Dave

Ice out ?
 

I can't find any ice on the lake . except the southern end of Paugus Bay

Winni Bob

Hi;

Is there any ice in Alton Bay ????

My guess for ICE OUT WAS 4/2/2020 @ 9:30 am. I'm In the running....I can only find 4 other guesses for this date.

I guess it's all up to the guy who has to do the "FLY-OVER", and I can't see anyone that would want to fly a plane in this weather ???

Winni Bob

There's a big slab in front of Springfield Point, Worcester Island, Melody Island and Clark Point in Wolfeboro.

Ice west of Bear Island on the Mounts route.

Center Harbor is ice free. The wind cleared it out overnight.

Looks to be pretty much gone now.

I think I had tomorrow at noon. If all you folks would be kind enough to turn off your dock bubblers maybe the ice can last till then.