Official 2019-2020 Ice In Thread

[TheCaptain]

Walked onto the ice from Rattlesnake landing in West Alton just now with a drill and thickness gauge.... 5" about 10 yards off shore, turned into 4" about 20 yards off shore turned into 3" about 25 yards off shore.
Needless to say, we didn't walk any further. (For all above measurements, there was about 1" of junk, slushy ice on top with black ice underneath). No arctic chill this year, just average night time temperatures are responsible for what we have so far.
Stay safe!!!

[Mink Islander]

Attached is a snapshot from my camera facing north on Mink Island. Looks more like April than January.

I drove up Friday and got on the ice just west of the Cattle Landing parking lot near the first lakeside driveway. Out 100 yards there was a good 10 inches of ice, about 3 of it slush ice though. A few hundred yards further out where the snow had been blown off and it was glare ice, the thickness dropped to a meager 4 inches of all black ice. I opted not to press any further towards the narrows at Cattle Landing to the east since that area is notorious for expansion cracks and ice heaves. Ice thickness can vary a lot through there in a normal year.

I am already giving up on the fishing derby this year. No way we’ll recover from these warm temps by then. The next two weeks with the hockey tournament and the derby bring a lot of folks to the area. I just hope they get the message to be very cautious on the ice this year.