[Slickcraft]

In today's Citizen:

It's ice-in on Lake Winni

By HARRISON HAAS
hhaas@citizen.com
Sunday, January 16, 2011

LACONIA — Ice-in on Lake Winnipesaukee was officially declared on Friday afternoon after an aerial flight caught a glimpse of the ice-enclosed lake.

Cold weather immediately after a Nor'Easter resulted in the annual frozen phenomenon known as ice-in, when the entire lake freezes over for the first time in the winter season.

David Emerson of Emerson Aviation said a flight taking off around 2 p.m. Friday saw the ice-covered lake with no areas of open water in sight.

"It's pretty close for being on time," said Emerson. "Last year it was the third week of January. We're about a week ahead of schedule this year."

Emerson and his family has been declaring both ice-in and ice-out since the mid 1970s. He said about three years ago, more people began showing interest in ice-in rather than just ice-out.

Each winter he flies over Lake Winnipesaukee to see where and when the lake finally freezes over as part of his weekly routine.

"The last part to freeze is usually the Broads," Emerson said. "There is a section in the middle that freezes over last sometime in January."

Just last week there were numerous sections around the lake that had open water, including the Broads, Glendale and a section along Route 11 heading toward Alton.

"We had some cold weather in December which started to freeze things down," said Emerson. "The snowstorms we had could have delayed it a little bit, but it got real cold again right after that."

Reports show there has been only one year in the record books when the lake did not totally freeze over, which was in 2001 because of higher-than-normal temperatures in December.

Emerson said during the 2004-2005 winter, ice-in was declared and it lasted for only about week until the ice began breaking up again. During the 2007-2008 winter season, one section of the lake took until almost the end of February to freeze over. The lake froze for two weeks and opened back up because of high winds blowing across the lake.

"When ice-in is declared, it is just that. We don't know what the thickness is of the lake," said Emerson. "People really need to be careful."

Local public safety departments urge residents each winter that although ice-in has been declared, they need to use common sense and realize the ice in some areas is still very thin. Moving bobhouses onto certain areas of the lake may be premature since the current thickness of the ice in some areas is only a few inches.

According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, people never should assume ice is thick enough to support an individual's weight. For new, clear ice, it should be at least 4 to 6 inches thick to support the average individual and 6 to 8 inches for a small group. Fish and Game suggests having 8 to 10 inches of ice before bringing snowmobiles or ATVs onto ice.

Vehicles of any size should never be driven onto ice, officials say.

In the spring, there is an annual contest to see who can guess when ice-out occurs on Lake Winnipesaukee. Ice-out is officially when the M/S Mount Washington can safely leave port and motor to each of its four ports: Weirs Beach, Alton Bay, Wolfeboro and Meredith.

The earliest recorded Ice-Out was last year on March 24, which broke the previous record of March 28 in 1921. According to records a majority of "ice-outs" are declared in April, however, the latest was on May 12, 1888.