The Official 2011 Ice-in Thread

[Lakesrider]

I drove around the lake tonight and it looked pretty well frozen up everywhere I could see. But I was driving so I could have missed some still open water. I thought I saw a thin sliver of open by Ames Farm. Not sure. I'd say Ice in.

[Slickcraft]

Still some open water between Welch and Diamond.

[DRH]

Some neighbors were skating on the ice near the shoreline just northwest of Minge Cove yesterday. They estimated the ice thickness at around 5" in that area, but they said it was thinner just inside the mouth of the cove.

[lakefr]

Has anybody been on the ice between Bear and Browns? I'm itching to walk across, but I don't want to make the drive unless it is safe.
Thanks!

[Mink Islander]

Originally Posted by lakefr

Has anybody been on the ice between Bear and Browns? I'm itching to walk across, but I don't want to make the drive unless it is safe.
Thanks!

Thinking about trekking out to Mink on Saturday. Cattle Landing is always the question mark early in the season. So FLL, any sleds running thru there? Cut any holes? Inquiring minds want to know!

[Bear Island South]

Originally Posted by Mink Islander

Thinking about trekking out to Mink on Saturday. Cattle Landing is always the question mark early in the season. So FLL, any sleds running thru there? Cut any holes? Inquiring minds want to know!

MI - Let me know if you make it out there, we are itching to get up there too.

[Merrymeeting]

With nothing but white showing on all the active webcams, 15+" of snow on the ground, and temps not expected above freezing for a long time, I think it's time to declare it's in.

[DRH]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

With nothing but white showing on all the active webcams, 15+" of snow on the ground, and temps not expected above freezing for a long time, I think it's time to declare it's in.

Unfortunately, the lake isn't completely frozen over yet. Today we saw a fairly large area of open water from the scenic view on Rt. 11 in Gilford, between Ellacoya State Park and the Belknap Point Motel. It's hard to judge, but I'd estimate it was about 1/2 acre - 1 acre in size. It appeared that there were one or two other areas of open water as we looked across the lake as well. I didn't have my camera to take a photo of this area of open water, but it is clearly visible from the scenic view.

[ArborTech]

Stopped to check out the ice off of Glendale this afternoon. A few sleds had been across the bay. I'll be out to check ice thickness' tommorow and might even do some fishing!

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by Mink Islander

Thinking about trekking out to Mink on Saturday. Cattle Landing is always the question mark early in the season. So FLL, any sleds running thru there? Cut any holes? Inquiring minds want to know!

Have yet to see any snowmobiles travel through, going past buoy 3

Offshore from Mark Island, there's an area of black all surrounded by the white ice which sure looks like open water as seen from about a half mile away.

Have not drilled any holes so have no idea as to thickness.

[Mink Islander]

I'm going to wait another week -- need to get those home projects out of the way so I'm free for a few weeks after anyway....


I'm sure the sleds will be all over that part of the lake this weekend.

Thanks for the undate Les.

[Merrymeeting]

Which gets us back to why it is so hard to define "ice-in".

I certainly didn't mean to imply that the ice was safe to journey upon, and I hope that no one trys anytime soon.

But if we go by the proposed definition that the Mount couldn't get to any of it's ports without hitting ice...

[ArborTech]

Out in front of Glendale has got about 6-8in the whole way across. Talked to a kid who rode his sled from Ellacoya to Glendale too. He said it was pretty hairy, but he didn't break through the whole way....!

[Pineedles]

If I were the Captain of the Mount, I would say I won't navigate into every port without possible damage to the hull. What say you Winniboater...?

[Mink Islander]

Turns out I was able to cut loose today so here I sit in my camp on Mink Island after a two mile hike from Cattle Landing. Good news is there's a good 6-7 inches of solid ice (maybe a little less thru Cattle Landing itself). I always stay towards the north side thru there. Had to walk over a short stretch of black ice. The cracks give you a good sense how thick it is. Enough fluff on top to need snowshoes. A few sleds around but no tracks around between Bear and Mark/Mink yet. A few wet spots where the weight of the snow pushed the ice down. That's what FLL was seeing. Clear skies with Mt. Washington bright white to the North. Saw a herd of six deer crossing near Bear Is as I got close to camp. Just need to warm up a bit and then go cut some holes!

[Zee]

We just saw a small plane land on 19 mile bay.

[hazelnut]

North of Moultonboro bay is abuzz with activity. Lots of sleds and lots of bobhouses. Stopped by a group near Little Ganzy Island and they had a motorhome on the ice. They said a solid 12 inches plus from Balmoral to Little Ganzy Island.

BE CAREFUL!

[meredith weekender]

Just had a couple of sleds out on the bay and they were going real slow. Maybe they're scared.

[hazelnut]

Originally Posted by meredith weekender

Just had a couple of sleds out on the bay and they were going real slow. Maybe they're scared.

Then tell them to punch it!!!

[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.

[flyguy]

Shot this Friday PM- same time Dave Emerson declared Ice-In. Enjoy!



http://tinyurl.com/IceIn2011