The steam rising off Paugus Bay this morning was blowing over Rt. 3 and freezing into a "ice fog"(?). Does that sound plausible? Either way it was pretty neat to drive through.

Here's the picture of Meredith Neck, noon, 17 Jan -- from a Webcam.

Water Temp
 

Did anyone notice but the water temp now is actually 1 degree lower than it was last year. Was there ice last year at this time?

While stationed in Alaska, we had to deal with ice fog a lot. It would typically form when the temps got to about -20 degrees, and actually is the moisture in the air freezing. It would coat cars, power lines, trees, etc with a coating of "frost", which could build up over a period of time (days). You didn't have to be around any body of water.

I am guessing what you encountered is more like "freezing rain", where the fog, albeit cold, was more like the freezing rain, which freezes on contact with the ground, cars, trees and other surfaces.

Just a humble guess, but you are right, "ice fog" can be a neat thing.

Sweet. So if it was 35 last year it couldn't have been frozen. I had 4-8" halfway down meredith bay last year. Maybe this year will be enough so I can bring my bob house out. Just built a new one last summer. I just need to get my flight back for the derby.

Ice Fog is real
 

On Mount Washington it's a trademark, and they report it as "Freezing Fog." It builds into big beautiful feathers of rime ice that are a photographer's dream especially if the sun comes out.

If you want to see some fascinating winter stuff like that, take out a Mount Washington Observatory membership (www.mountwashington.org) and sign up to be a winter volunteer for a week. They'll make you try it this summer before letting you come up next winter, but it's well worth the amazing experience!

...no car...no boat...it's real cold out, too!
 

Living down on that poor side of the Big Lake, things just seem to go from bad to worse. Maybe, I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree for leaving the boat in the lake so late into the winter, but what can I say?

Driving down Rt 93 early this morning from WV to Meredith, my car, a real nice '95 Ford Contour with a four cyl-5 speed with only 154k easy highway miles on it decides to stop running. Pulling into the break-down lane and lifting up the hood, hot steam is pouring out from all over the engine. Got it towed into Ashland, and it works out that fixing it would cost way more than its worth; no compression in one cylinder due to a warped cylinder head or cracked block or both. Plus, I ain't got no money for this no way, anyway.

It's about 2pm by the time I get started back on the frozen outboard. First, I bring the six gallon gas tank inside and set it close to the propane heater while the fuel line with primer bulb, that goes into the 103d hot tub, which should thaw it out fast.

Next, it all gets rehooked to the outboard for another try at starting. It's a no-start, so maybe it's the fuel filter or fuel line or something under the cowl. Anyway, with temps running below 10 and it's almost dark out I decide to call it quits until tomorrow. Best to quit today......probably using a hot air heat gun would have me setting the whole engine on fire today....and it is a terrific engine.

No ice to be seen yet anywhere from Horse to Mark to Timber to Gov, but with my 'good' planning that may change overnight.....ugh!

There's not much luck when all you can count on is dumb luck!

Hey Fat, if you leave your boat in, I'll buy you a new one this spring. I need ice!!;)

You may be lucky!
 

It's 1:30 am, and the night's cooling seems to have ended unexpectedly. The day's Northwest wind dropped off to calm for just a couple of hours this evening - not the predicted all-nighter - and now the high pressure has moved off the coast 12 hours early. In the last hour the wind has shifted into the "warm" Southwest, bringing a few clouds like beach blankets in the sky. The temperature has responded by slowly creeping upward - adding 2 degrees since midnight. Out on the porch I hear lapping sounds of wavelets from that SW wind. Freezing tonight? I have to eat my words now. Saturday looks to be a verrrryy windy day to keep the water open. Someone up there might just be waiting for you to get that boat out of the water before allowing the lake to freeze.

OK, this just in live from the big beach here at the Weirs. During my morning jog I went on down to the beach and low and behold, we have a skim of ice from at least the beach/channel to the Pier, maybe further but its too dark still to tell! It was all wide open last night at sunset.:D

same here, skim-over
 

The skim-over is visible on the open lake, too, as evidenced in this morning's view.

Skim Ice in West Alton, too
 

The temp. this morning is about 5 degs. The wind finally died last night and the lake skimmed over. It isn't very thick, but it's a start. Here's what the lake looks like in front of our house this morning:

http://www.echoshores.com/ice-in/2007/011807.jpg

Hope for no wind
 

I hope the wind doesn't pick up over there...In vermont where I have to be when I am not at Winni. lake Champlain is Stirring herself into a frenzy again breaking up what ice has formed....

So far, no wind here
 

The ice that formed last night was just a skim-over and the fist-sized rock I tossed punched right through it, but at 9:30 a.m. it's still not going anywhere. At Black Cat Island it's puffing occassionally out of the WSW at 1-3 mph and the temp is 10 F. If anything has its way with the ice today it'll probably be the sun, but if it can thicken enough to survive Saturday's 40+ mph winds it'll be in for the season. For now here's what it looks like.

CanisLupusArctos and upthesaukee, thanks for the responses. I missed your posts this morning when I first posted. At least I feel better, I was starting to think I was seeing things before the coffee set in!

The ice,the ice,never looked so nice!

Ugh the wind is doing its thing this afternoon
 

From what I can see... there is a lot of open water this afternoon that was skimmed over this morning...

Two years ago on this date it was open water, but on the 20th it was ice. Our dear mother nature will do what she wants.... please please mommy can we have some ice!!! :emb: :emb: :emb:

The ice survived here
 

Good news from Black Cat Island - the ice between here and Three Mile Is., and as far SE as I can see (Steamboat & Rattlesnake) has survived the day, even with winds gusting to 16 mph and bright sun. These pics are from about 3:30 p.m. One looks SE to Rattlesnake Is. and the other SW toward Beaver Is. The ice between here and Three-Mile is a half-inch thick. There's snow coming tomorrow with more cold on Saturday! Now let's just hope it helps thicken the lake ice enough to survive Saturday's winds.

Do any of you know the conditions in Moultonborough near Buzzels Cove, Trexlers Marina and Randalls Island area? That's where I am scheduled to be in 2 1/2 weeks. I use Randalls island as a shelter from the wind. Thanks.

Fatlazy:

Were you able to get the motor working and the boat out? Hopefully, things worked out for you.

Weirs Bay and Lake Winnisquam both seem to have kept the skimming they got last night.

:banana: Time to buy my flight for the Derby.

Looking good in front of Black Cat

Keep it up!
 

Freeze Baby Freeze!

I was snowing down here in Joisey when I left home for work at 6:00AM. The drive way was covered with the white stuff.


Keep on dancing!:banana:

We don't want too much snow, but this should be good for tomorrow since it's supposed to be windy and maybe this will help protect the ice that is there.

Mostly Water Here
 

Unfortunately, the ice didn't hold in this part of the lake. It's now open water from the Minge Cove area in West Alton all the way across the lake to Wolfeboro. Here's this morning's view, taken from just west of Minge Cove and looking east. Treasure Island is on the left side of the shot, with the eastern tip of Rattlesnake is behind it:

http://www.echoshores.com/ice-in/2007/011907.jpg

Hey FLL
 

FLL,
What's up with the boat...any luck???? Inquiring minds want to know!!!

BT

....whenever?
 

All the launch ramps are iced in as of today, Shep Brown's, Meredith Town Docks, Glendale, Weirs Channel, Meredith Marina: all inaccessible. The ice looks very thin and tonight's winds and 26 degrees could make some changes.......sorry ice fans! For now, it looks like my boat is ice bound for the duration...whenever? The area from buoy 3-Horse Isl to Bear-Mark-Timber-Governor's is currently totally ice free, and it is a windy night so......?

A slow, windy ice-in
 

Looking SE from Black Cat I see ice pack down to around 5-Mile Island/Steamboat Island. The ice survived the wind gusts of 16 mph today, but the open spots around Black Cat Shoals grew every hour. Currently the winds are on the increase and we're in a snow squall that's dropped an inch of snow in the last 45 minutes, with forecast for 45+ mph winds tomorrow afternoon. The squall's signature on the radar almost looks like it's an extension of lake effect snow from upstate NY.

Ice on 19 Mile Bay
 

Anybody up in the 19 Mile Bay area? How's the ice?

I know it's windy and all but if it got cold enought wouldn't it still ice up? I am no weather expert but seems to me no matter how windy it was, if it was cold enough the top of the water would freeze. Maybe a temp of say 3*F like it's suposed to be tomorrow?

Wind and Ice
 

BoulderBronco,

The wind has a huge impact on the ability of open water to ice up. If the surface of the water is being moved by the wind, it does not have the ability to freeze. What is needed is a cold night and no wind. That will cause the lake to get a skim coat usually a half inch or so think.

Once there is a skim coat, the wind can still mess up the ice-in process. It works on any area of thin ice and once it breaks through, it continues to enlarge the opening. Once the opening is large enough for any wind-driven wave action, thin ice will get eaten up very quickly, even with tempatures well below freezing. The ice has to be an inch or two thick before it gets "safe" from most winds below 20 mph.

Today, the wind got a lot of the ice outside of the bays. Although it will be below freezing tonight, the ice will be no match for wind gusts of 40 mph on tap for tomorrow. We need the wind to die down for the process to begin again.

With water tempatures at 35 degrees, one cold and still night followed by a cold and rather still day will do the job in many areas of the lake.

Sorry for the bad news, but that is how it works.

R2B

Thanks. But I'm not stupid. I understand that. But at some point the water will freeze. If it was 100* below zero it would freeze in a second no matter how windy. So. I am just wondering how cold it would have to be to cancel out the wind? 10*? 0*? -10*? -50*? What? Any guesses?

Back when..
 

We used to get real winters around here,.. and not that long ago we had a good one where the Lake froze over before the snow flew. We had well over twenty plow able snow storms this winter,.. I remember having to go up and shovel the snow off the back porch roof many times after work to keep the ice dams from building. All of the many wonderful winter activities enjoyed by us tough winter sports, Champion sled dog racers, ice fisher folks, and I recall Alton Bay looking like Laconia Airport. Some friends and I left the camp on Paugus Bay on our snowmobiles to ride around the Lake and check out all the fun and games. Meredith was crowded with the fishing derby go'in on, and we even took a ride up to Mount Shaw and back. It was great to see everyone having fun.

There was an MP dive team over in Winter Harbor practicing ice rescue and they had cut a hole through the ice and had it all cordoned off, so I stopped and asked how thick the the ice was,.. they said oh its safe alright 39 inches thick!!

Let the Lake freeze, and let it SNOW!!!


Oh, PS I caught these guys party'n on my deck that winter with my portable Weirs Bridge Cam too. ;)

I was only trying to help and was not in any way implying that your are stupid.

Technically at absolute zero all motion stops. At reasonably normal local tempatures, there are far too many variables involved to give an answer to your question.

Think of it this way... at least it will be very cold and not 50 degrees right :rolleye2: . The wind will be no help to the bigger parts, but coves and places protected by the wind will only add ice I assume.

We lost a lot of ice on Weirs Bay yesterday (from as far towards Meredith as I can see to Methodist Circle), and even more last night. Last nights waves ate up even more, its almost down to the channel now.

On ice and wind
 

On one occasion during the 90s I saw the open lake when it was cooled to 32 and was still open water because of the wind. The water froze instantly to everything it splashed on (freezing spray). Such instant freezing will always happpen if the air temp is bitterly cold, but on that morning it wasn't.

This morning it's open water SE of Black Cat Shoals, with NW wind averaging 9 gusting to 20 mph and increasing, temp 17 F and dropping. The 4 inches of snow we had last night is blowing around out there. Looks like our next chance of calm conditions is Monday night.

No More Ice
 

We had high winds overnight, with a 41 mph gust at about 8:30 AM this morning. The ice is completely gone in our entire view now:

http://www.echoshores.com/ice-in/2007/012007.jpg

From what lake Wenworths cam shows, it's holding up and still snow covered. First it's warm air and now it's wind. Give me a freakin' break! :fire: