Getting there
 

The Club Cam shows ice in Wolfeboro Bay out to Barndoor Island. Checking the other cams I notice many are out of date. I also note that the state water temps are out of service.

Alton Bay iced-in all the way out to Little Mark. See www.winnipesaukeecam.com

The state water temps from Weirs Beach are working:

https://www4.des.state.nh.us/rti_data/WEIN3_TABLE.HTML

Overnight the ice on Paugus Bay has been covered with snow (from the Anchor Marine CAM):

folks ice skating in Center Harbor bay
 

2 very brave (foolish) souls were ice skating in Center Harbor bay yesterday.
Iced in edge to edge.

Meredith Bay
 

Is Meredith bay iced over yet? Getting nervous (as I always do) about it being ready for Pond Hockey weekend at the end of January! And it looks like it'll be 8 days from now till some real cold moves in.

Meredith Bay has a sloppy look'n, gray slushy ice from Lagos out to the beginning of the no wake zone, about a half mile out, and then it's open water all down the bay to the Weirs.

A 12' aluminum row boat with just the two oars could probably slide through this slushy ice?

Any info on 19 mile bay?

My son walked out on 19 mile today said it was 5-6 inches

Tick tock
 

Temps look like they’ll be dropping next week so the areas beyond the bays and coves should start to lock up. This morning, the waters to the north of Mink island has some bits of skim ice, but still mostly open after a breezy day yesterday. Things were pretty much the same this time last year.

A great picture
 

A nice picture of the ice situation, but a great picture of Mt. Washington, rising like a white diamond above the other mountains.

Thanks for posting.

Dave

Welch
 

Here's a 30 second video taken today from the West side of Welch...

https://video.nest.com/clip/f0a61cdb...67e97db46a.mp4

Dan

Thanks. Is this a fixed view, or can the camera be moved or zoomed remotely?

You cannot move it but you can zoom, the more you zoom the less clear the picture is.

Snake Eyes, the winner
 

Looks like IG has power back to her cam :)

But will it last....
 

North side of Mink Island locked up overnight.

Bear Island Sights and Sites
 

Very nice view. When enlarged, the Adirondack lean-tos at the Outpost, and snow-covered Indian Head Rock are visible at the southern end of Camp Lawrence. 🐻

Camp Lawrence
 

That’s right. My wife’s family has a place on Bear Island, also with views of Mount Washington and a more distant view of Camp Nokomis!

The area out in front of the Indian Head Rock is a popular ice fishing spot.

A bald eagle was also flying around out in front of Mink today. Last winter several were congregating on the southern tip of Bear. Becoming a common sight, thankfully.

Fingers crossed that after the coming warm up that we’ll get back to sustained cold for ice making!

When is ice in official? What constitutes ice in?

I believe it’s a “fly over” by the aviation guy that declares both ice in and out.

It is Emerson Aviation that surveys the lake and confirms the Mount Washington cannot safely navigate to any of its ports.


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There hasn't been an official ice-in in past years. Last year Emerson Aviation did declare ice-in but that's the first time I recall them doing that.

Declaring ice-in is kind of tricky. Areas could skim over which would block the Mount but then strong winds could break it up the next day. That happened last week when the area off of Weirs Beach skimmed over, blocking the Mount, then cleared the next day in strong winds. That wouldn't normally happen with ice-out. Once the lake clears enough for the Mount to reach all it's ports it is very unlikely that the lake would freeze over again.

Another thing that makes ice-in different is that for ice-out the Mount must be able to reach ALL its ports. For ice-in only one of its ports would need to be blocked.

If Emerson Aviation does declare ice-in this year it will be posted here:

https://www.facebook.com/Emerson-Avi...31847876851023

Ice update
 

North side of Mink held up despite the wind last night, which is good. Need to get past the coming warm snap and hope for more cold weather to get us to safe ice!

Ice In
 

West side of Welch as of a few minutes ago...

https://video.nest.com/clip/1ae642f6...74474b1eb8.mp4

Looks like the wind took out what little ice had formed. With this weeks temps into the 50's not looking too promising...

Dan

Dan, in your island experience, how does the condition of the lake right now bode for an eventual freeze-up/ice in? I know coves and bays will catch but will the open areas (as in your cam shot) likely freeze enough to allow safe travel?

Looking at the forecast that warmup will be a 24-48 hour thing and temps are still going to get below freezing at night (barely) so hopefully that won't do a whole lot to the progress that has been made. We'll see wishful thinking?

Hi Hill;

I would say 8 out of the last 10 years the area around Welch froze completely over to safely reach my camp. Some years there has been 20+ inches of ice.

The last place to freeze on the entire lake is always the area known as the "alien hot tub". This is a large oblong area in the middle between Welch and Ellacoya State Park. Rumor has it that many years ago an unidentified flying object crashed there causing this delayed freeze effect to this day!:eek::eek: I can see this area from my home on the mainland in Gilford so I monitor it well. One year Emerson declared ice in when there was still about 6 football fields of open water there!!

Now to answer your question!...I think the freeze is definitely behind but I do think the lake will freeze over completely this year. The nights have been cold and more cold coming next week. We just need that initial skim of ice to keep the wind from affecting the freeze. Once that happens, ice will form quickly usually at a rate of 1" per day minimum. Calm and cold is the key!

Here's a few clips from years past from the same camera as in my above post and within the same time frame + or - a couple days. This will give you an idea where we are at...

January 11th 2019: https://video.nest.com/clip/e9247dc8...901859eec3.mp4

January 13th 2017: https://video.nest.com/clip/0254f547...2812f4ad36.mp4

January 7th 2016: https://video.nest.com/clip/5ae083a7...4622d47342.mp4

Take care!

Dan

Today’s view from MODIS
 

Progress in the coves and Alton Bay...

Alien Hot Tub
 

Top,

Here’s a couple from 2016.... That’s Welch in the lower picture...

Dan

Alien Hot Tub
 

Excerpt: The US Navy Research station on Diamond Island was supposedly to do research under ice in preparation for the Nautilus' trip under the polar ice-cap, and to study underwater light transmission (Laser?) Apparently, that was just a cover story. In four generations on Welch, I have never seen algae blooms or milfoil in this area.

Risky
 

Just saw two people walking on the ice near what appears to be open water on the Center Harbor web cam. Scary! 🐻

looks like the ice is making a comeback!!!!:)

Late this afternoon, the dog and I saw what appear to be two ice shacks out on the ice in the Long Island-Sandy Isl - Cow Isl triangle.

To be fair, if the water is moving in some fashion in that spot to prevent ice from freezing, you wouldn't get much algae or milfoil compared to other areas that freeze over faster where the water is more calm.

Not Yet
 

No progress as of yet with ice in...

https://video.nest.com/clip/1f92878b...c271fa7a4f.mp4

Hopefully with the upcoming cold temps starting Friday night we will some progress!

Dan

I cannot believe there is no Cam in Meredith, that is crackers

Actually, better yet, Wednesday overnight will be below freezing and then some real cold from there. Any chance the Pond Hockey happens in Meredith Bay?? Or at this point are we crossing our fingers for even Waukewan to be able to have it????

My personal opinion is Meredith Bay will be fine for the hockey tournament...

Dan

I think you're right on Dan...however, at this late date, I don't think the lake will "ice in" this season...not fully, anyway.

only issue with the ice for meredith bay is they need enough time to set up, flood and smooth, need at least a week. So at some point they will have to make the call