Moron Alert!
 

The ice between the south side of Diamond Island and the shoreline in Gilford/West Alton (by Ames Farm area) is at best only 3 days old. I could not believe my eyes when I just saw three people on the ice in this area. One is on an ice boat, the other two on skates holding some kind of kite.

Maybe the ice is thick enough due to the cold, but I can tell you...I wouldn't be out there! :confused:

We need to have the ice tested somehow :D

While I agree that it's still a little early to be out there given the variation in freezing/thickness, I would think this extreme cold would be adding at least 1" per day if not 2" or more. Even over the course of three days there could already be 6" of ice.

I was wondering
 

How fast ice forms so I pulled this off the internet.

At a steady temperature of -10 F, a small, non-spring fed lake freezes at a rate of 1 inch every four hours.

So I guess if the temp is not as cold the lake can still build several inches per day.
So that being said there could be more then enough ice even though only 2-3 day have gone by the temp has been well below freezing all 24 hours of the day.

Still Open Water! Here's The Scoop
 

We came up to our home in Gilford last night. From our deck I have a complete view of the lake from Lockes Island to Diamond Island and everything in betweeen. I would post pictures but my internet service has yet to be installed and I am working off an air card which is pretty useless for pics.

The largest section of open water is still in front of Welch and it's huge! (See Below) There is another smaller section of open water between Ellacoya and the East end of Welch, very near where the deepest section of the lake is. There is another rather large open section of water in front of Lake Shore Park that extends in a Northwesterly direction. There are also a couple of small open water spots in front of the beach by ellacoya and believe it or not there is a bob house adjacent to one of these open water spots! :eek2:

I have confirmed 5" of ice in front of the Glendale docks last night. I do not know yet how far out it stays safe but will find out when I am out there today.

In all the years I have fished the lake I do not remember a year where the lake froze like this. It is very dangerous and has massive variations in ice thickness and can change instantly under your feet. The bays can have as much as 14" and open water can be a couple hundred yards away.

I post these reports in the hopes people venturing out on the ice will think and constantly check for thickness as they go out and not just simply venture out aimlessly because they see others out there.

Please be safe!!

Dan

And to top that off
 

The next weather system comes just in time for a warm-up which means more rain instead of snow. :(

Belknap Point today
 

As reported by ishoot308 there is more open water today.

If you look at your lake charts, winds from 270to 280 degrees funnel in over a 2 mile fetch between Locke's and Governors and then hit Welch. That southeast flow of air is then deflected southward by Welch. This somewhat matches the shape of the large patch of open water.

Wind overnight was at 270:
http://classic.wunderground.com/weat...p?ID=KNHGILFO9

BTW, we on the west side of Welch often have a windy time of it.

The Broads
 

This was this morning right at dawn. Large area that starts at Samoset and all the way around Lake Shore Park to Ellacoya. It was larger today than yesterday.

The good news is, the ice was "booming" it is building ice, the problem is the wind, that is breaking up hugh ice sheets that are blowing up onto LSP all across the shoreline.

Attachment 7300

You must have been at Lincoln Park just a short time before we went by this morning. As your photos show, the area of open water to the west and south of Welch Island is quite large.

Volcano
 

Isn't the open water area where that ancient volcano is located? Maybe it's getting ready to erupt again.

I wish I had better news for ice on this side but it's wide open from long island to welch, steamboat etc. It briefly skimmed over before sunrise that was cool to see as one minute it was water than the wind stopped and it all was frozen. Now the wind is back and so is the open water and white caps.

No snow, no ice, freezing cold and wind ahhhhhhhh

Modis satellite picture of ice
 

It is a sunny saturday and the MODIS satellite picture of the day shows the area quite well.

The picture attached has labels showing Squam Lake is pretty well frozen, as is Meredith and Center Harbor bays, Moultonborough area down to the Barber pole and Alton Bay. There appears to be a lot of open water south of the northern fingers all the way to Alton Bay. Hard to believe after all these frigid days, but seems to be so.

Edit: Some of the dark areas that look like open water could be black ice that froze after the last snow.

Anyone hiking?
 

Hi everyone. I have a place up there in LSP but live in NYC and read your posts and check out your photos everyday. Looking forward to heading up soon for an annual girls' ice fishing weekend. I would love to see a photo from up on Lockes hill/mount major. Some friends of mine just launched their bobhouse off of LSP, and considering all the open ice it's making me nervous! He said there's 6 inches of ice there.

Here is the same image using a different color option. It high-lites the open water area of the Lake better:

<a href="http://s960.beta.photobucket.com/user/NHtech/media/winni_zps12faf803.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/NHtech/winni_zps12faf803.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo winni_zps12faf803.jpg"/></a>

Cattle to Bear
 

Did any brave souls make it to Bear today via Cattle Landing?

Ice Report 1/26/2013
 

Well made it out to my camp on the NE side of Bear Island today... the LONG way. FYI for anyone looking to hop on the ice from sheps forget about it. The access point next to the docks is all blocked off and clearly they do not want anyone accessing the ice from there. Furthermore there is a some open water that stretches across beyond the docks so access isn't possible anyways.

OK so with that out and I had my sleds with me decided that the next best option was Levitt Beach. When we got there there were a bunch of folks out fishing and ice reports were the ice was only 6" thick. When we drilled a test hole by the beach it was over 12" so I'm not sure how accurate that report was. I was a bit surprised at that but decided to leave the sleds and walk from there to BI with the ice auger to drill test holes along the way. Our path took us between the mainland and the beaver islands, between Pine and 3 Mile then across to Bear. We drilled several test holes along the way. Far as the ice goes... that area had been locked up well prior to the cold snap out to Pine and 3 mile islands where the ice went from snow covered to bare ice and not just that really cool ice formations where you could see the large sheets with huge gaps of black ice that had flash froze so good some of the black ice was creepy to walk across because there were NO air bubbles at all in it. OK now for what everyone I'm sure is interested in knowing, thickness. We found the ice to be mostly to be between 10 and 12" thick, yes we measured it. Only in one spot did we find the ice to be down to 7" and it was an area where there was probably open water not that long ago as it was black and between two pressure points so it was drilled as we wanted to make darn sure we had plenty of ice under us where we couldn't determine thickness from either cracks or air bubbles. Could have easily taken the sleds out, but we played it safe and walked out cause we were the only ones out there at least on the way out. Bottom line the ice may look bad, but it's solid, safe and really hard at least along our path.

Great to be out at the camp, walked in and it was a balmy 13 degrees inside! Very cold day today and the wind was whipping real good on the way back. Long walk, got plenty of exercise. Pics to follow. Beautiful day for sure!

First pic, Beaver island on the right looking towards Pine
Second pic, looking directly at 3 mile island with Pine behind the picture taker
Third pic, looking towards the broads point of Pine on the right and Bear Island behind Pine. Great place to skate there, no snow and the ice was perfectly smooth

More pics, all taken between SE of Pine headed towards Bear.

Even though this ice looks scary, it's thick and solid. My sister took a shot standing on some very black ice - like walking on water!

Again all this stuff is a good 10" thick even though you'd think it's just a light skim layer.

Found a smelt frozen into the ice along the way, really cool ice/air formations, and finally we reached out destination!

Yes it was that cold, but well worth the trip out. That's it folks!

ooh I forgot one more really cool ice pic

I do want to post a very important disclaimer here, I'm not suggesting that everywhere on the lake is safe, we were out there drilling holes and playing it very safe while out there. If you do venture out there, you should do the same thing. Never assume that the ice is safe, always best to check. I chose my route to take carefully and even so took the time to verify it along the way especially when it started to look like there would be variations in thickness. Be safe out there!

Hello, I'm in LSP also, have been since we bought it. I was done tonight taking some end of days pictures, and saw the two bobhouse off Long Beach. Lot's of open water from Big Pier all the way past Samoset.

If you look closely you can see the 2 bobhouses in this picture.: (Taken from Big Pier)

Attachment 7319

http://i44.tinypic.com/1499wms.gif NYCtoLSP, I just noticed that you are fairly new to posting on the forum and glad you have joined us. Have fun and enjoy the Winni Forum while making many new friends. Just stick with the forum gang and you will be kept up todate just as if you were here.:)

http://i54.tinypic.com/2e56yqf.gif

Alton Ice Shack..
 

Well some spot have plenty of ice.. Alton Ice airport is open and plenty of folks out fishing. Had to post this picture of one of the Bob Houses on the bay. Nice set-up and even has an very well named "outhouse" :laugh:

Attachment 7323

Alton and New Durham FD was practicing water rescues.. couple of pics.
These are some tough people..!

Attachment 7321

Attachment 7322

Do I Have To Say It....
 

As I look out over the lake this morning, I am in disbelief as there is still as much open water as I mentioned in yesterdays post, so I won't post the same old pic. It also looks like there is another very large section of open water along Tuftonboro neck.

We ended up ice fishing in Saunders bay where there is 10"- 12" of solid ice at least 200 yds from shore. Not much activity beyond that.

Glendale docks had 6" at the end of the dock and quicly went to 4" about 30 yds out further. Wasn't comfortable launching the bob house there so we went to Gilford Town Beach.

Goin fishin'

Dan

Newbie question
 

So I am on Moultonborough neck, facing west, "senter cove", in a bay flanked by Wallace island.

Don't yell at me saying "use common sense"... :)

Are there some good rules of thumb or ways of testing to determine that the ice is safe for walking on, say from shore to Wallace island?

Thank you!

Buy a hand auger and start drilling as you go, look for variations in the ice color and drill those areas. Stay clear of pressure ridges.

If you see other activity stop and ask if they know the ice thickness.

I like to see at least 6-8 inches before I will venture out.

I use this phrase all the time : Common sense isn't all that common anymore.

Be careful everyone. The four fatalities on Rangeley Lake last month are still fresh in some of our minds....

This year's ice
 

As of now, these winds continue to keep open water in areas where it has not as yet frozen over. I expected the winds to be low to calm tonight and tomorrow night, but it now looks like they will stay up for the entire week ahead. In addition, we will warm up mid-week and get a rainy period.

For now, it looks to me like where there is open water, the likelihood of it freezing thick enough that it is safe at all this winter looks very low. There is some great ice in places, but even those areas have some variation in thickness, so be careful. If you are out on your sled at night, be completely aware of where the open water is and stay clear of these areas.

The February sun is much stronger what we have in December and most of January. It is also up longer and is higher each day. This makes it hard to keep a skim coat of ice where it forms overnight. That and the persistent winds make me think we will only have what we now have for ice this year.

Be safe!

R2B

Great advice, the open water area off Lake Shore Park and Samoset has actually "grown" a little over the last several days. Along the shore of LSP near the property line with Samoset, the sheets of ice that have blown up onshore are 3-4" inches thick, some of them are 3-4 foot across. IMHO the wind is not going to let that part of the Broads freeze unless we get an extended period of very cold temps and no NW winds.

I will not be surprised if someone ends up in that open water with a sled. That area is always "high traffic" area because many people seem to think the close to shore ice is safer than the mid lake ice. Does anyone know if Marine patrol has any way of putting up warning signs or beacons?

Where on tufftonboro neck we got a camp there and Havnt seen any open water?

Walked out today just down the road from the Cattle Landing dock. Stayed a little north of the dock and walked straight across into the cove on Bear. Pretty quiet out there!

Long island bridge moultonborough
 

Any ice looking towards nineteen mile bay / cow island from the long island bridge?? I have a cabin on cow and am hopeing to leave from harillas and hoof it over their this saturday.

Thanks alot.
Dan

Go from 19 mile bay

Open spots of water near Rattlesnake
 

The northern tip of Rattlesnake has a couple of spots of open water. The Ice was cracking all the way out from the weight of the airboat, it is maybe 4 inches thick. Didn't venture down into the broads side.

Cow Island Maybe?
 

After a closer look I think the open water section I was talking about is in front of Cow Island extending almost to Middle Ground Shoals and not Tuftonborough Neck. Here's a couple pics I took from my deck at 3:00 P.M. today.

The red arrow in the picture shows the area I was talking about. The other pic is zoomed in and I believe the small island on the right might be Echo island, not positive though being 7 miles across the other side of the lake.

Dan

Let's see------It says how many lbs/ft2?
 

Is it ft2 or in2?

Here's a clue to the origin of the picture
 

Taken today in Moultonboro

How about 1 more clue

How about one more clue?
 

My guess is ice racing on Lee's Pond?