read it again
 

The reference to algae and milfoil was a total non sequitur.

There's still time Hill...cold weather starting tomorrow night and continuing on at least for the next 7 days or so according to the weather channel. Unfortunately it looks pretty windy starting tomorrow until next Tuesday which will certainly stop any ice from forming.... If we don't see some serious progress by next weekend January 25th, I would agree with you...

Dan

There is one at Lago, but the only ones I see using it are WCVB and WMUR :mad:

Windy!
 

These brutal winds with gusts over 30 mph will just not allow the lake to freeze no matter how cold it gets! The wind continues till Tuesday!:emb::emb:

https://video.nest.com/clip/323e2f37...3b2c5a0cd2.mp4

Dan

Crystal clear view today.
 

Today’s MODIS shot. Very few times during the year that it’s this crystal clear...

Ice Forming
 

There is some ice forming across the broads this morning! It’s calm right now and the slightest wind will certainly blow it all away bit if it would just ice over fully before the wind starts it would be in good shape!...We shall see!!

Dan

Skimmed over, but will it hold??
 

Time will tell.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7a45506aae.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...92fddc8ae0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...984c41fad1.jpg

Meredith bay this morning


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I actually saw a small boat (18-20 feet) blasting through the skim ice across the broads today! Based on the tracks left in the ice, the boat seemed to come from Belknap point and went straight across to the south side of Welch and kept going at about 20 mph!

I had 10 very experienced Winni fishermen and guides at my home today for a luncheon and we watched this boat in disbelief...none of us could believe what we were seeing!

I hope this person made it back OK!

Dan

Over at the Belknap Point Motel breakwater dock, there's been tied up, an old, all steel, construction barge tender boat that gets towed along behind a large barge so maybe it was getting out to the job site, somewhere or something. Could have a 150-hp Honda on about a 20' steel v-hull with an all-weather type home-made cabin enclosure.

Winter waterfront construction projects using a barge is like the Winni equivalent to mining for gold under the Barrow Sea, or something ....... no work = no pay. They ain't going fishing.

Thanks for the shots of Meredith.


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That’s the boat we saw cutting through the ice yesterday!

Ice In??
 

From my vantage point in Gilford, the entire lake including the broads and the “hot tub” area, are completely locked in with ice! Last nights calm and cold did the trick!

Dan

Thanks Dan great news for the PHC and Derby


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Fingers crossed...
 

That the wind won’t bust things up again. Looking good from Mink Island.

Emerson Aviation has declared Ice-In:

https://www.facebook.com/Emerson-Avi...31847876851023

Wow, that was fast! From open after to ice-in in just a couple days.Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

In two weeks we will start the ice out contest

No open water was in view from Belknap Point this morning.

I think that the prior days of cold with brisk wind did a good job of drawing heat out of the water. And then a bit of calm and "snap".

And the view from space today makes confirmation easy...
The Sebago hot tub is obviously still in the “ON” position....

Winnisquam is still wide open at the state park. Wondering if it will freeze over this year


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We drove through Meredith today, and the ice rink area looked awful wet and the water section from the waterfall stretched pretty far. I'm not sure I'd be confident...yet.

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WMUR - Emerson Aviation called Ice In on Sunday
 

https://www.wmur.com/article/ice-in-...-2020/30595457

Of course that just means all the Mount's ports are frozen in, not that the whole lake is frozen.

The mounts ports have nothing to do with “ice in” and WMUR is wrong as usual! Ice in is declared when the entire lake has frozen over which it has. Emerson aviation makes the declaration.

The mounts port are only relevant to ice out...

Dan

Correct. In a prior year open water at the "alien crash site" south west of Welch delayed ice in call even though the mounts ports had been iced in for quite a while.

Alan

Lake Conditions
 

Anyone been cutting any holes near Shep’s or Cattle Landing? Any snow on the ice or is it all blown off/frozen slush? We’ve had some good ice making nights since everything skimmed over Friday night.

Bunch of guys with snowblowers all over the ice in Meredith today...hockey rinks?
Also a couple of Kubota tractors over closer to Lago humming around the ice...

Yes they are preparing the rinks for the PHC

Iffy
 

I drove up to check out the ice this morning over by Cattle Landing, Meredith Neck. While there was a decent amount of ice not far from shore (10 inches with 2-3 slush ice and the rest solid black ice). But... closer to the pinch point between Bear Island and Meredith Neck where the snow was blown off only had 4 inches of black ice. Plenty to hold a person, not enough for me to venture through Cattle Landing given the variability of ice through there.

Another unusual winter folks. Be very cautious on the lake.

Probably will need another week. Day time temps aren't really getting far above freezing if at all and night time temps are still good and cold to build more ice just the progress will be slower. The bitter cold day and nights are needed for fast progression and it's just not in the extended forecast.

The window to get back and forth this year is looking like it's going to be pretty tight.

Maybe - fingers crossed
 

As you say, the near term forecast isn’t going to do much to help. The rain will hurt. I’m not optimistic give the warm days ahead that we’ll get there. And Cattle Landing gets treacherous when the temps yo-yo.

May be one of those rare, lost winters.

So, what is Cattle Landing used for anyway...I finally looked it up on Google Earth and there seems to be a pretty good sized parking lot with one dock...
Is this something for Meredith residents only? Is there a boat ramp?
Thanks in advance!

Town of Meredith's Cattle Landing has a one acre, dirt parking lot and a concrete floating dock across the road, there. As of today, both the ice eaters are working good and there's a large circle of open water surrounding the town dock.

There is no launch ramp for backing a boat on a boat trailer into the water. What is there is a 60" opening in the blue wood fence atop the smooth grassy embankment, very close to the paved Cattle Landing Rd that allows for unloading and hand carrying a kayak/canoe/paddle board/small row boat/rowing skull to the lake. Two people can carry a canoe down the aluminum staircase, and onto the concrete floating dock for launching. One person can drag or carry a kayak down the 20' long, smooth grassy embankment.

No boat trailer parking, or any type of trailer is allowed in the Cattle Landing parking lot, as indicated by a sign, and the police will enforce this. A small boat dolly that fits through the 60" opening could definitely launch a Laser style sailboat rolled in from the parking lot, and the immediately nearby, big water area to the right or south and out onto Lake Winnipesaukee is like a totally totally totally excellent area for sailing a 12-14' sailboat.

Any restrictions on who may use it? Not really, no restrictions; is a great spot for launching a kayak into the waters of the big lake with the very flat, smooth, shallow sandy bottom and very small sandy beach at the bottom of the embankment, free of rocks, good for getting in/out of a kayak. The Meredith Police are always patrolling this residential area and always take a good look around as they slowly pass on by.

Cattle Landing town dock has been in use for something like 150(?) years, or longer, and get's its' Cattle Landing name because it was once a holding area for cows that got boated across the narrow passage for grazing on nearby Bear Island.

In the past, people used to launch ice shanties through the 60" opening, down the smooth embankment, but that's probably no longer possible with all the ice eater, open water.

Say-hey ..... is that a long slice of open water that has recently opened up or something on the Snake Eyes, Rattlesnake Cam, at about 4:45 on Saturday afternoon.

It sure enough looked like open water to me ...... but is a little difficult to say what with the low light and the shades of gray ..... tomorrow's daylight will tell?

Wait and see ...... I say ...... there is new open water on Snake Eyes, tomorrow morning!

...............

..... oopsie-doopsie ........ false alarm here ..... Sunday 7:10-am and Snake Eyes is not showing any open water ..... my bad?

..............

.... say-hey .... lookn again at about 10-am here and it now does look to be the same slice of open water has returned ... that open water slice is alive ... :eek: ???

Ice Thickness
 

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!!!

Really Iffy....
 

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.

I am wondering if the hockey tournament will still take place.....


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:offtopic: ..... off-topic ALASKA but interesting:

Did you hear the State of Alaska is having its' coldest winter in the last ten years. With temperatures down to -30, Alaskans are retrieving their heavy 'Alaskan' parkas, unused for the last ten years and in storage in the back of the closet, needing them for this winter-2020.

Apparently, the nine winters prior to 2020 were all warmer temperatures, and nine years is long enough for residents to somewhat forget what the cold used to be.

And this winter, 2020, the old fashioned Alaska cold winter is back.

So, who knows, maybe New Hampshire caught the warm winter temps that used to reside in Alaska? .... :eek: ???

Note: These 'Alaskan' winter coats while famous for their warmth are also very heavy to wear because they are insulated with whale blubber.

Not being glib!
 

Somewhat late for posting this, but knew I had seen this opposing information- just couldn't remember where it was.

Read post #62 of this thread (pg.1)- Clarification?

Both points of view are new to me. I've always thought it was all ports, in and out.

Listen to the WMUR video at post 107. It distinctly says ice in is when the entire lake is frozen. Ishoot was wrong in calling out WMUR. The video implies also that Emerson defines ice in as when whole lake is frozen. Maybe Dave at Emerson or webmaster will chime in and clarify for us.