The Official 2025 Ice-in Thread

[Island Girl]

Here we go… another winter season on Lake Winnipesaukee. Waiting for ice… so planes can land on Alton Bay, snow mobiles and four wheelers can traverse the lake and islanders can experience the quiet an beauty of waking up to a snow covered frozen lake. I look forward to your commentary and experiences as i enjoy the east coast of Florida.

[codeman671]

We are skimmed over down by Rattlesnake this morning. Ice as far as I can see other than a hole at the southern end of Diamond. As
As long as the wind stays down this may be the start of it.

[rsmlp]

From South Point on LI it appears to be locked in right across to Jolly Island. Hard to tell further out but certainly halfway across it is.

[ishoot308]

Glendale was iced in this morning for the first time and lots of thin floating ice out in the broads. She’s ready!!!

Dan

[Slickcraft]

Belknap Point and Glendale today.

Alan

[Lakegeezer]

Here's a link to a spherical panorama, from a drone at 350 feet AGL, near lower Moultonboro Bay. Look around by clicking the link, then on the round arrow in the upper right corner of the photo to get into Pano mode.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KSHx98QJQRihBoFHA

[fatlazyless]

Maybe the last barge out there? Today at about two o'clock, a small construction barge with a small pilot house crept through the ice, slowly passing along the shoreline from Timber Isl to Mark Isl, making a lot of ice smashing noise as it chewed through the ice. Traveling at 5-mph out front Timber Isl it had to slow down to 2.5-mph out front Mark Isl probably due to thicker ice.

Was maybe Island Service out working somewhere till the ice forced it to escape back home while the ice still thin enough to go. Crunch, crack, crunch, crack, crunch ...... no doubt the driver must have a cell phone in case something goes wrong ..... like it gets stuck or breaks the prop or something, unexpected.

....... helloooooo ........ hey, guess what ....... barge is stuck? ..... ..... what do I do? ......

[ishoot308]

She is very close to freezing over this morning! If we had one more calm and cold night like last night she would take. Unfortunately I think the wind we have coming in tonight and tomorrow won’t give it a chance to freeze over and will most likely blow this all away…

Dan

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Here's a link to a spherical panorama, from a drone at 350 feet AGL, near lower Moultonboro Bay. Look around by clicking the link, then on the round arrow in the upper right corner of the photo to get into Pano mode.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KSHx98QJQRihBoFHA

Great photo! Thanks for sharing!!

Dan

[fatlazyless]

No worries ..... this large Winnipesaukee water area between Welch Island and the Gilford mainland will definitely freeze up, tonight Jan 2-3, 2026 ...... I guarantee it!

Tomorrow morning, it should be a smooth solid sheet of ice, one to two inches, thick.

[MeredithMan]

...All of Meredith Bay is locked in. Several groups ice fishing yesterday in front of the town docks.

[bellamaria]

This morning Alton Bay had five or six ice tents with traps (jigs?) set up around them. Looked like cones were out to mark an area for planes to park later in the season.

[Slickcraft]

Today's view from Belknap Point. Lots of open water but with with sheets of skim ice interspersed, including the Broads.

[bellamaria]

A lot more ice fishing happening this morning, with some closer to being past Sandy Point! And the actual runway cones are out. Maybe I missed them yesterday, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t there yet. A couple side by sides doing donuts out there this afternoon on my return.

[ishoot308]

I think tonight’s the night! While we still have quite a bit of open water in the broads and between Welch and Lake Shore Park, the single digit temps expected tonight along with the very calm and if any wind should lock everything up!

Dan

[cowislander]

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Here's a link to a spherical panorama, from a drone at 350 feet AGL, near lower Moultonboro Bay. Look around by clicking the link, then on the round arrow in the upper right corner of the photo to get into Pano mode.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KSHx98QJQRihBoFHA

Very nice! What DJI drone are you using for this?

[Slickcraft]

Today some water but mostly skim ice seen from Belknap Point. 5 AM tomorrow it will be about 4 deg with a light wind. Snap!

Alan

[ishoot308]

Another pic from this afternoon. A little bit wind came in and blew most of the skim ice away. Hopefully tonight things lock up!

[ishoot308]

Close but not quite!

The "alien hot tub" area is refusing to give in...Maybe tomorrow...

Dan

[Island Girl]

Looks icy out there!

[Slickcraft]

Not quite there.

Alan

[ishoot308]

The lake does look like it skimmed over completely last night…not sure how that happened with the mild temps. It will probably open back up today with the expected mild temps. There is a tiny bit of open water just east of round island that I can see but other than that….

Dan

[ishoot308]

Very surprised ice in hasn't been declared yet. From my vantage point all the last areas of the lake to freeze have been iced over for a couple days now. I can see no open water at all. Yesterday we drove around the southern half the lake from Meredith to Alton and saw no open water. Haven't heard a peep out of Emerson in a couple weeks...

Does anyone know of any open water still out there??

Dan

[camp guy]

Maybe there is no "official" declaration of ice-in due to possibility that if somebody saw a declaration of ice-in, and went on the ice, went thru the ice, and sustained injury or property damage they might file suit against the person who "declared" ice-in, or this website for posting the information.
I am not legally trained, just a thought.

[Slickcraft]

And nice smooth ice as far as I can see. If the snow holds off with enough cold nights, the ice boats may show up at Ellacoya.

Alan

[ishoot308]

Emerson just confirmed Ice In! He said it happened a couple days ago but was unable to fly and confirm….

Happy winter everyone!

Dan