Ice-in Watch 2007

[CanisLupusArctos]

Only the wind is keeping it liquid now. A Thursday Ice-in will depend on how much ice can form Wednesday night with calm winds and temps near zero. Thursday afternoon's temps near 32 and winds from the SW would break up any ice that's too thin to survive, but a few more snowflakes are moving in for Friday so anything that's not frozen by Friday night will freeze within a few days.

Tom Chisholm on Ch. 8 tells of models hinting at a cold air mass that's as cold as air gets in North America, coming out of Siberia and crossing Canada, arriving here by the end of the month. Winter, at last!!!

BTW does anyone know if there are records for Ice-In, and if so, what the latest recorded Ice-In has ever been? I've googled around and found only the ice-OUT records.

[Resident 2B]

Less,

Unfortunately, it sounds like a frozen fuel line is the likely problem and with these tempatures it will not be easy to thaw it.

I would carefully try a hair drier, but the chances of it working are not high. Warm water poured over accessable areas of the line is perhaps a safer idea. If this does not work, consider running a temporary new line from the tank to the engine. This will cost some money, but you do not have much time to get the boat out. In either case, I would first treat the tank with dri-gas to get at any additional water that may be present and not yet frozen.

If your tank is not full and if you used your boat a when it was warmer, as we know you did, you likely drew in relatively moist air that condensed into water when it got cold. The water likely stayed as water in your tank due to the volume of the gas in the tank, but froze when you pulled it into the feed line to the engine. If you have some metal in the feed line, I would hit it first with the hair drier or even grab it with your hand for a few minutes. Be very careful with the drier and any gas fumes.

I am not up at the lake. If I was I would try to help directly. One good turn attracts another!

Good Luck!

R2B

[secondcurve]

R2B:

Since these 4-stroke motors are cooled by water, couldn't there be some frozen water somewhere as well???

[Pine Island Guy]

nice sunrise this morning and shows a skim of ice on the Pine Island Cam!

PIG

[Blue Thunder]

Boy FLL, I'm really worried for you now. All of the above suggestions are good. I am going to assume that you have a portable fuel tank?? Disconnect it and bring it and the hose into the house to warm up. Go for the dry gas too. If you have the ability to get power to the dock either use the hairdryer (not that you would have one!) or put a floodlight or light bulb directly on the engine power head. You'll be amazed at the amount of heat that will transfer to the engine. Good Luck

Blue Thunder

[DRH]

Bitter cold weather has finally arrived at the lake. It's -4 degs here in West Alton this morning. The wind howled all night and kept the lake churned up ... we recorded a 44 mph gust about 10:30 PM last night.

When (if) the wind dies, I think we're going to see ice forming quickly.

Here's a photo taken from our window at 8:00 am. (It's too cold & windy to go outside!)

[Skip]

Originally Posted by DRH

...Bitter cold weather has finally arrived at the lake. It's -4 degs here in West Alton this morning. The wind howled all night and kept the lake churned up ... we recorded a 44 mph gust about 10:30 PM last night.

When (if) the wind dies, I think we're going to see ice forming quickly...

That's great news DRH!

And if we do get the snow & ice predicted over the next two months, hopefully I'll be able to sled up & over the mountain and sneak down your way for a cup of joe!

[codeman671]

Originally Posted by CanisLupusArctos

Only the wind is keeping it liquid now. A Thursday Ice-in will depend on how much ice can form Wednesday night with calm winds and temps near zero.

I highly doubt that you would see enough ice in the next 24 hours to be considered an ice-in. A lot of the shorelines still do not have much if any ice buildup. I would expect another 4-5 days if things stay this cool before you see anything serious taking place. There is enough wind to keep it moving and it certainly takes a lot to skim over the broads. Some of the channels, coves and between the islands will start but I do not think we are quite there yet. I am hoping for a final boat ride on Saturday.

[NHKathy]

This morning, while looking at all of the web cams, at two different times - I saw what seemed to be the same vessell in both the Pine Island cam view and the Bear Island cam view.
Now, from the map illustration on the Bear Island site, I know these two islands are next to each other, I guess I just never realized which direction the Pine Island cam was facing. So, I assume the Pine Island cam faces east? So when looking at the Bear Island Cam, are one of the homes that are in view on Pine Island that of the Pine Island Cam?
Just curious...

[NHKathy]

Bear Island Cam...

[Weirs guy]

The steam rising off Paugus Bay this morning was blowing over Rt. 3 and freezing into a "ice fog"(?). Does that sound plausible? Either way it was pretty neat to drive through.

[This'nThat]

Here's the picture of Meredith Neck, noon, 17 Jan -- from a Webcam.

[rander7823]

Did anyone notice but the water temp now is actually 1 degree lower than it was last year. Was there ice last year at this time?

[BoulderBronco]

Originally Posted by rander7823

Did anyone notice but the water temp now is actually 1 degree lower than it was last year. Was there ice last year at this time?

Sweet. So if it was 35 last year it couldn't have been frozen. I had 4-8" halfway down meredith bay last year. Maybe this year will be enough so I can bring my bob house out. Just built a new one last summer. I just need to get my flight back for the derby.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

The steam rising off Paugus Bay this morning was blowing over Rt. 3 and freezing into a "ice fog"(?). Does that sound plausible? Either way it was pretty neat to drive through.

While stationed in Alaska, we had to deal with ice fog a lot. It would typically form when the temps got to about -20 degrees, and actually is the moisture in the air freezing. It would coat cars, power lines, trees, etc with a coating of "frost", which could build up over a period of time (days). You didn't have to be around any body of water.

I am guessing what you encountered is more like "freezing rain", where the fog, albeit cold, was more like the freezing rain, which freezes on contact with the ground, cars, trees and other surfaces.

Just a humble guess, but you are right, "ice fog" can be a neat thing.

[CanisLupusArctos]

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

The steam rising off Paugus Bay this morning was blowing over Rt. 3 and freezing into a "ice fog"(?). Does that sound plausible? Either way it was pretty neat to drive through.

On Mount Washington it's a trademark, and they report it as "Freezing Fog." It builds into big beautiful feathers of rime ice that are a photographer's dream especially if the sun comes out.

If you want to see some fascinating winter stuff like that, take out a Mount Washington Observatory membership (www.mountwashington.org) and sign up to be a winter volunteer for a week. They'll make you try it this summer before letting you come up next winter, but it's well worth the amazing experience!

[CanisLupusArctos]

Originally Posted by codeman671

I highly doubt that you would see enough ice in the next 24 hours to be considered an ice-in. A lot of the shorelines still do not have much if any ice buildup. I would expect another 4-5 days if things stay this cool before you see anything serious taking place. There is enough wind to keep it moving and it certainly takes a lot to skim over the broads. Some of the channels, coves and between the islands will start but I do not think we are quite there yet. I am hoping for a final boat ride on Saturday.

We'll have to wait and see... I've seen a half-inch of ice form on the open lake overnight (in past years) if the air is cold enough (below zero) and winds are calm. If tomorrow's SW wind doesn't get strong enough to break it up, it will survive to meet Friday's snow and then the next arctic blast on Saturday. This morning we're seeing rapid cooling of the water, with a steady stream of arctic sea smoke blowing down the open lake and a low of -2 on Black Cat Island. If for some reason the ice doesn't thicken enough by Friday, it may stay open till Monday since we have more strong winds coming up for Saturday.

But all details aside, the moral of the story is, "if you left anything in the water that you want to take out, now is the time to take it out."

Check out this morning's cam view...