Rattlesnake Landing today
 

Photo of Rattlesnake Landing taken this morning, if I did it right

Ice-Out
 

We always hope for calm days as the ice yields to the springtime sun. Windy days have pushed piles of ice floes against our dock [which is located on a very exposed point on East Bear Island] causing extensive damage, especially last year. If windy, we hope the wind is blowing from the north thus pushing the ice against our breakwater.

I am with you Barney Bear
last year we had to replace a piling and two posts at the end of the perminant section of our docks.

plus I have March 30th for ice out! :)

Lily Pond
 

As I drove by Lily Pond this morning, the ice was gone and a flock of geese had taken up residence.

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!!!

Wind is never a good thing at Ice Out.......:(

Shoot the darn geese! Last thing we need on Winni.

Loon
 

I saw a Loon today:... fishing in Narragansett Bay, RI. I've never seen one down here before. He was alone, no mate, and I'm guessing he's heading north. :D NB

So if history holds true, ice-out is less than two weeks away?

Mergansers are back. (species most responsible for duck itch) South Wolfeboro Bay is thinning out. Looking transparent like the Rattlesnake Island shot. Sorry no pix this morning.

I'm afraid I'm going to be late with My guess
 

I guessed March 28th @ 3:01 for ice out this year. Based on what I'm seeing on the cams over the last couple of days, and with the full sunshine and warm temps going into next week, I'm afraid I guessed to late.:( O well, always next year.

So much for my guess of Friday the 13th (4/13)
 

I was trying to fool the "Bad Luck" day and picked Friday 4/13 at 4.13PM.. I'm going to be way off!

Ice-Out
 

I believe it will be sooner than two weeks, but that is my opinion. ;) Silver Lake here in Hollis has been one week prior to Lake Winnipesaukee since I have been paying attention, but this year doesn't follow suit. It is coming up on three weeks since ice-out here on Silver Lake. :confused:

Hopefully Mother Nature cooperates with my plan. I booked our boat for next Saturday, the 24th. If ice-out doesn't officially happen I hope we can get from Minge Cove to our boat slip in Alton Bay and out to the island. We've only been on the lake once so far before ice-out. I will be very happy if this isn't the second time! :laugh:

Belknap Point
 

Much more water visible off the point than 4 days ago. There is still ice off the Glendale docks.

Very nice lunch today at the Lyons' Den today for my wife's birthday, excellent food and service as always.

Nice Cam for Ice Out
 

Gunstock Acres Cam
http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/erikas/2/show.html

Much to my amazement, there are a few ice fishermen walking on Merrymeeting today. Thankfully they seem to be staying near shore as there are a few large open areas on the lake and the ice looks awful fragile to me. I don't plan to test it.

The ice is starting to look dark on many of the webcams, the Minge Cove time lapse shows lots of ice pack movement, Ossipee webcam area has opened substantially in the last 24 hours, Shaw's Pond on King's Highway went from being totally locked in to totally open in the past 48 hours, Alton Bay open past the band stand.

Won't be long now. A little wind will do it.

The traditional leading indicator for ice-out in my area has started to show, meaning we would normally be 2-3 weeks till ice-out. However, there are already ribbons of open water in Moultonborough Bay, so I think it will happen earlier, especially given the sunny 70's in the forecast for the week and the grey color of the ice. I'd like to pull the boat into the garage to prep it for an early spring launch, but the driveway is still soup. Update: Sunday AM, the temps were below freezing, so I dragged the boat out of its winter pile of snow and into the garage, with minimal tracks in the gravel driveway.

It's going fast
 

My guess was March 24. Looks like that won't be far off.

Melt, Melt, Melt!!!
 

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1332094911
WeirsCam


Click here for a Lakes Region Aerial Photography panorama of the lake taken yesterday by Flyguy

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1332095152
Here is another flyguy shot of The Broads yesterday from Lakes Region Aerial Photography

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1332094909
Lake Winnipesaukee Weather Cam at Black Cat Island

Water Temperature at 2 ft: 40.1 °F

Water Temperature at 10 ft: 41.1 °F :D :D :D

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1332094909
Minge Cove Webcam

I just got off a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale after a week. It's hard to believe that it's in the 70's at home and only 80 here. Can't wait to be home tomorrow. Already told Winnisquam to have my boat ready this week.

At $0.55 per minute for satellite Internet on the ship I probably spent $20 in the
last week checking out the webcams at home.

Hello P.I.G!
 

Pine Island Guy was at his dock earlier today... Turned the south webcam back on. P.I.G., is the other cam on?

IG

Modis today
 

Here is the MODIS from earlier today.... a tad enhanced for easier viewing.

Thanks PIG!
 

It is good to see your cam back up! Been missing it. Lucky you getting an early island trip!!!

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1332110590
Pine Island South

Friday is the day
 

I just finished finished the tuneup on our 15' Princecraft, batter charged, fresh gas and 2012 registration stickers are on, all ready for a Friday 3/23 voyage to the lake...at least I hope. :emb:

It may not be ice-out but I'm hoping to get from Sheps to Bear.

I broke this piece of ice off of a larger section near shore at about noon today. While the ice was still thick and relatively strong, as soon as I pulled it out of the water and onto the rock, all the water drained out. It was very porous.

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...m/DSC_3910.jpg

About an hour later, I lightly hit the chunk with a stick and it easily broke into these crystals. The ice became darker during the afternoon, and I expect it is approaching the point where the crystals will start to break apart.

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...m/DSC_3931.jpg

A windy day would do it, but there don't seem to be any in the near forecast.

what a beautiful day!!!!
 

With the incredible weather we got the itch to drive up and see how far we could get... We got the Alumacraft in the water and headed out through the ice, and made it around to the dock by hugging the shoreline...

Got the south camera up, but the east camera is still sick :(

What a beautiful day to be on the lake!

ice ice go away -PIG

Big Change!
 

Yesterday's sun and unseasonably warm temperature did a real job on the ice. Here's an image captured by the Minge Cove Webcam at 8:17 AM this morning:

http://echoshores.com/Photos/webcam_031912_082031.jpg

Sunrise
 

A couple of great shots caught by my webcam this morning. Moultonborough webcam link.

No way that ice survives the end of the week. Temps in the 80's forecasted! Wachusett Mountain is mostly brown now, almost no snow.

SeaRay goes in the harbor in 13 days!

First of many trips
 

Neighbor went from Ames Farm to the Broads side of Rattlesnake yesterday afternoon in his boat. He took some pics and hopes to post them today. We visited Rattlesnake Landing and it is still iced in with about 4 inches of ice.
Saw a boat moving at a decent clip through the cracks in the ice in Alton Bay about 3pm on way around the tip o' the bay.

Planning on being on island this weekend! Going to make week drag along.

Ice-Out 2012
 

I was having lunch at Garwoods yesterday and all of a sudden a double cockpit woodie came from under the bridge, turned to the right for a while, then turned and put the throttle full-speed ahead and did a pass from north to south giving all of us in Garwoods a glimpse of hope that open water will happen soon.

Thank you to the two people in the boat - you made my day.

Ice conditions
 

The broads are REALLY dark, watched the big hole in front of diamond and off twards alton get bigger yesterday. I think the ice will be gone from the broads any moment, the bays that froze over first will be a few more days. Let the summer games begin. Oh and watching the ice melt is kinda like watching paint dry, a bit boring but the end result is satisfying.

Thanks mas1992bc !
 

mas1992bc:
Thanks for posting your webcam shots AND the link to your webcam!
Where is your webcam located? What's in the view? looks like the southern end of the Ossipess, near the castle?
(so glad to have a second M'Boro cam to look at!)
-Kathy

With virtually no wind, and no high winds in the forecast, it appears this will be a quiet ice-out. Just slowly melting away (or not so slow with these temps)

I can't believe I'm sitting here with all the doors and windows open, and the heat off!

Not sure if this is a repeat or not, but it's an awesome picture.

http://aerialphotonh.com/ice-out.2012.htm

Hi Kathy,

The camera is at my house, facing east from Moultonborough Neck. The Castle in the Clouds is just out of the camera frame, but in general, you are correct. Just to the right of the view from the camera is Moultonborough Bay. Maybe I will try to reposition the camera to get the Castle in the view :-).

Weirs Cam Time Lapse
 

Wow! Check out the time lapse on the Weirs cam. In the past half hour the ice completely broke up!! Awesome to watch on the time lapse!

Dan

That was my cousin, Capt. Icebreaker, he took me for an ice-out excursion after he and a friend physically broke their way out using poles to break up the ice ahead and push large chunks away from the engine. The ice was basically slush, very 'shardy,'

To borrow a line from TV it was 'Ice Road Boating.'

It was one of the more amazing boating experiences I've ever had.

Thank you Capt Icebreaker.

Capt. Icebreaker
 

Great shots. Did you get around Alligator Point?

Same thing on Minge Cove
 

Check out the Minge Cove time lapse, so cool!!!!