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-   -   Lake water temperature? (https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20084)

scubajay1153 12-12-2015 02:46 PM

Lake water temperature?
 
With BLackcatnh down and the dam hotline not picking up today I was curious if anyone knew the current lake temps?

Outdoorsman 12-12-2015 04:27 PM

Current water temperature for Lake Winnipesaukee is: 50°F

Merrymeeting 12-12-2015 05:58 PM

Outdoorsman, where are you getting your reading?

I am recording 46 with mine on Merrymeeting, which usually tracks Winnipesaukee fairly well. Though since my dock came out, the location is different. Now it's only in about 1' of water near the shore. This time of year, I suspect that it would be warmer as you get deeper.

In either case, we are looking at a 15 year high for this time of year. I went back through the recorded temps on this site for Dec. 12th (+/- a day or two depending on when readings were taken). The results are below. If we are close to 50 today, it is a rather striking difference from the norm.

2000 36
2001 42
2002 36
2003 38
2004 39
2005 38
2006 41
2007 37
2008 37
2009 39
2010 38
2011 44
2012 40
2013 34
2014 37

phoenix 12-12-2015 06:18 PM

and to think the ice out contest begins in 50 days

PaugusBayFireFighter 12-12-2015 06:49 PM

The lake is ~45 degrees on Paugus. It's held steady for a couple weeks now. Thank you El Niño.

Grant 12-13-2015 10:07 AM

If the ice never truly goes in, can it go out? ;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

scubajay1153 12-14-2015 10:44 AM

Thanks folks!

Merrymeeting 12-14-2015 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grant (Post 254709)
If the ice never truly goes in, can it go out? ;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

I understand the humor. But for those who may not know, the ice goes "in" fairly quickly. Using inverse logic, if Ice-Out is when The Mount can make all of her ports without hitting ice, then ice-in is when she would first hit ice on the way to one of her ports.

So, even if The Broads and other areas never fully freeze, it would be a frightening winter if none of the bays ever skim over during the whole winter! :eek:

PCTim 12-14-2015 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting (Post 254727)
I understand the humor. But for those who may not know, the ice goes "in" fairly quickly. Using inverse logic, if Ice-Out is when The Mount can make all of her ports without hitting ice, then ice-in is when she would first hit ice on the way to one of her ports.

So, even if The Broads and other areas never fully freeze, it would be a frightening winter if none of the bays ever skim over during the whole winter! :eek:

So, what do you think the chances are that there will be enough ice for the Pond Hockey tourney at the beginning of February (or is it too early to start panicking)?

Winnisquamer 12-14-2015 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PCTim (Post 254731)
So, what do you think the chances are that there will be enough ice for the Pond Hockey tourney at the beginning of February (or is it too early to start panicking)?

Although I participate in the pond hockey tourney each year at this point with the weather we've been having I am praying the lakes don't even fully freeze. Ill skip ski season for a year, and the boat would be back in the water April 1st and we would be back up and running by the following week!!

PaugusBayFireFighter 12-14-2015 05:30 PM

Today's lake temp on Paugus is 44. Last year on this day the lake was 36 degrees and there were discussions on here about 'the earliest ice in'.

We have already seen our earliest sunset as the sun sets later every day from here!

salty dog 12-14-2015 06:53 PM

Shortest time period?
 
The chart that Merrymeeting displayed shows just how warm it is. Considering how late in the season it is and taking in the consideration of the mild upcoming temps, it seem to reason ice-in will be quite late. I wonder what the shortest ice-in to ice-out is? I read on an on-line blog (the blogger was going from memory) that there was no ice-in for the 2000 season and possibly two years before. Do any of you remember? I wonder if this might be another year? I know with a cold snap the ice take hold pretty quickly.

SPT13 12-14-2015 09:16 PM

few yrs ago
 
I think a few yrs ago the lake never really froze completely, and I remember the pond hockey being moved to another location.

Merrymeeting 12-14-2015 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salty dog (Post 254744)
I know with a cold snap the ice take hold pretty quickly.

Yes, one week with below freezing temps and many parts of the lake can freeze quickly. Don't forget that we still haven't actually started winter (though we have started meteorological winter)

I think 2011 was the last time when The Broads never fully froze.

ishoot308 12-15-2015 09:06 AM

No Cold In Sight!
 
I just looked at the 10 day forecast for Gilford and they are still showing temps in the 50's at Christmas!! This is just crazy!!

webmaster 12-15-2015 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scubajay1153 (Post 254680)
the dam hotline not picking up today

The Dataphone at the dam has not answered since November which makes it hard for me to post the temperatures. The NOAA site at http://www.erh.noaa.gov/gyx/lakefore...nipesaukee.php also no longer shows the H20 temperature for anywhere on the lake. Does anyone know another source for the daily water temperatures?

Bear Guy 12-15-2015 12:28 PM

Charts!
 
1 Attachment(s)
For the other data junkies out there, I plotted the water temperature data from this website, for the past dozen years. Interestingly, this September was the warmest, but this November looked normal.

Merrymeeting 12-15-2015 01:41 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Taken 2 years ago today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

secondcurve 12-15-2015 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting (Post 254772)
Taken 2 years ago today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wow. That says it all.

Outdoorsman 12-15-2015 07:10 PM

I can't confirm the accuracy of this site, but since all the others seem to no longer be providing the data, I have been watching this one. It may very well be 'average temps' for the time of year that they are reporting.

https://www.watertemperature.net/uni...ipesaukee.html

Merrymeeting 12-16-2015 09:31 AM

Before we all get carried away, last year it was 50 degrees on Christmas Day and the ground was bare until the first week of January. We all know what happened after that! :eek:

Paugus bay girl 12-17-2015 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ishoot308 (Post 254758)
I just looked at the 10 day forecast for Gilford and they are still showing temps in the 50's at Christmas!! This is just crazy!!

My wallet sure is thankful! So far not costing me my left foot for heat!

Paugus bay girl 12-17-2015 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting (Post 254793)
Before we all get carried away, last year it was 50 degrees on Christmas Day and the ground was bare until the first week of January. We all know what happened after that! :eek:

We still didn't get as much as the south last year!

rsmlp 12-17-2015 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting (Post 254793)
Before we all get carried away, last year it was 50 degrees on Christmas Day and the ground was bare until the first week of January. We all know what happened after that! :eek:

perusal of lake temps of december of 2014 from this very site shows a temps of 37 near 12/25/14. I seriously doubt the broads will freeze over in '16. we've been here since '98 and there was one other year when they didn't freeze over maybe 15 yrs ago. anybody remember which year it was?

CAVU 12-17-2015 08:53 PM

Probably winter of 98-99, another strong El Nino year.. El Nino has begun to weaken, I would expect winter will return in Feb, March, April...

ishoot308 12-20-2015 12:55 PM

Crazy Weather
 
Looking at the 10 day forecast again for Gilford just shows more warm weather on the way. It's supposed to be in the 60's on Christmas Eve and warm weather continuing after Christmas.

Being someone who really enjoys the winter sports...this sucks!!!

Dan

Major problem 12-20-2015 09:18 PM

1 Attachment(s)
I've been watching these forums for many years primarily for fishing derby forecasts.

My group has been fishing both the spring Winni Derby and the Meredith Rotary Ice Derby for decades. If we couldn't stay with lakeside friends (mostly winter) then we stayed at B. Mae's/Fireside in Guilford. We had to make reservations in November because the Derby often fell at the same time as winter school vacation and they could get booked up.

There's been years we fished brutal arctic conditions and others with little to no ice. In recent years we've watched the weather fearing there would never be an ice-in and then around the second week of January winter would show up leaving only two weeks for the ice to thicken.

We are usually hopeful and faithful. This year my friends have chosen to wait and see.

Here's what it looked like in 2010, 3 feet of solid ice, no slush and a warm (~55 f ) sunny day.

Merrymeeting 12-21-2015 07:58 PM

As always, Mother Nature seems to be averaging things out.

Driving around the region this morning, many of the smaller, shallower, water bodies were skimmed over with ice. My water temp probe was measuring 40 degrees this afternoon. Rocks along shoreline are somewhat encased in ice after the winds of the past few days.

While the next few days will not be anywhere near average, it won't take much of a cold snap to get things back to normal. The lakes don't usually show signs of consistent freezing until after Christmas each year anyway.

PaugusBayFireFighter 01-01-2016 08:59 AM

I have 38 degrees now for the lake temp. With overnight lows below freezing and a blast of arctic air set for the beginning of the week, we should see some solid ice forming soon.

Blue Thunder 01-01-2016 12:13 PM

Although I understand it completely, I am not worthy of articulating it like this. An excellent explanation of how ice forms......we are getting close to that magic 39 as we speak.

"For water to freeze and change into ice, it must be cooled to its freezing point, which implies heat loss. That heat loss occurs when the ambient temperature of the air is lower than the temperature of the water.
The freezing point of fresh water is 32°F; however, its maximum density is reached at 39°f. From an ecological perspective, the latter point is extremely important, since the deeper water which is located under the ice – except in some small lakes or ponds - does not freeze, which means that the creatures living there can survive winter under the ice. Let us take the example of a lake whose temperature decreases to 39°F in the late fall. Since density (the weight of the water per unit of volume) increases with the decrease in temperature, the entire lake – from the surface to its bottom – will reach 39°F after a certain length of time. When it cools, the thin layer close to the surface of the lake becomes denser, therefore heavier, and sinks toward the bottom of the lake, and is replaced on top by “warmer” water which rises to the surface.
If the temperature continues to drop and dips below 39°F, the layer close to the surface becomes less dense when approaching the freezing point; it then increases in volume instead of shrinking, and becomes “lighter” than the water below it at 39°F. Therefore, that cooler layer will float on the surface and will continue to cool until ice is formed. Ice (a solid) is lighter than water (a liquid) due to its larger volume, and that is why it floats. The water located under the ice below remains at 39°F, except for the layer just below the ice’s surface. That layer will approach the freezing point of 32°F. As it reaches that temperature, it turns into ice as well, making the layer of ice on the surface even thicker. The colder it gets, the thicker and the more solid the layer of ice becomes.
If water behaved like other physical bodies, it would increase in density as it cools. If that were true, rivers, streams and lakes would be frozen from the surface right down to the bottom. In the summer, only the top layer would melt, while the deeper water could remain frozen throughout the year. In such conditions, it is obvious that aquatic life in our rivers and lakes would be impossible."

BT

PaugusBayFireFighter 01-04-2016 05:05 PM

1 Attachment(s)
I was surprised to see the lake temp this morning still at 39. It should drop a bit tonight and tomorrow but the wind is not cooperating. The forecast from Wednesday through the weekend is a bit mild, overnight lows stay in upper 20s. Next week starts some steady cold weather.
Ice lovers have to wait at least another week before ice starts forming.:eek2:

Merrymeeting 01-05-2016 09:28 AM

literally watching ice form as I sit here this AM. But given forecast and any wind, don't expect it to last.

gokart-mozart 01-05-2016 10:40 AM

Lake Wentworth
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting (Post 255383)
literally watching ice form as I sit here this AM. But given forecast and any wind, don't expect it to last.

Lake Wentworth froze shore-to-shore last night, unless it gets REALLY warm I expect it to stay.

Compare with November 29, 2014 for last year's ice-in.

upthesaukee 01-05-2016 02:23 PM

Alton Bay
 
Yesterday in Alton Bay, there was some slush / ice from in front of the old Pavillion to the town beach out towards, but not to the floating band stand.

Today, there is a skim of ice out past Sandy Point, with some patchy skimming of ice to about half way to Echo Point. What a difference a day makes.

Merrymeeting 01-05-2016 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting (Post 255383)
literally watching ice form as I sit here this AM. But given forecast and any wind, don't expect it to last.

As expected, once the wind came up, the skim ice broke apart and is now gone.

Mink Islander 01-05-2016 02:59 PM

Lake port
 
Lake temp was 38 degrees this morning per the Lakeport Dataphone. Tick tick!

Acrossamerica 01-05-2016 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gokart-mozart (Post 255389)
Lake Wentworth froze shore-to-shore last night, unless it gets REALLY warm I expect it to stay.

Compare with November 29, 2014 for last year's ice-in.

Must have been more folks staying later in the year this year and flushing.

Bob G 01-05-2016 07:33 PM

There was a skim coat of ice at the south end, Rt11, of Paugus Bay. All within 200 yds of shore. Nothing out deep yet.

barefootbay 01-05-2016 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gokart-mozart (Post 255389)
Lake Wentworth froze shore-to-shore last night, unless it gets REALLY warm I expect it to stay.

Compare with November 29, 2014 for last year's ice-in.

Don't know where you were looking but this am at Wentworth state park it was only about a third skimmed over .

ITD 01-05-2016 09:46 PM

Blackey's cove iced over.


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