Ice, 12/12
 

After an icy night things are getting back to sunny and temperatures are warming above freezing for what promises to be the only time for at least a week.

During the night Black Cat Weather Station recorded 0.20" of melted precip, most of which fell as sleet and freezing rain. There was 0.2" of snow. The snow content saved us from what would've been more ice. It has also made the ice easier than usual to remove, since the ice fell on top of a snow layer that has kept it from gluing itself to everything.

Once again the plows were out this morning scraping and sanding the roads. With temp at 36 degrees, if you are at the lake it is a good idea to get out and scrape those surfaces clear before the extreme cold moves in this afternoon. Whatever ice you leave will freeze.

Winds are already blowing from the Northwest and they're sounding like they mean business - bringing in the Canadian air.

The next system to come through is tomorrow night into Friday and appears to be moving to the south of us, providing the brunt of its snow to NYC area, CT, and RI. There will still be some snow here, but the main story here for the next three days will be the cold and wind.

Rejoice and breathe deep; Canadian arctic air is some of the cleanest on the planet!

ice coming fast
 

The ice north of (and it seems within) Moultonboro bay is slushed over with solid areas. No open water to be seen, but the slush is very dark. Maybe the weekend chill will make it safe. We saw a fox walking carefully across the ice this morning and snapped a shot. Its a but fuzzy because it was just dawn and the camera used a slow speed shutter.

Thanks for the photo LG

Ice Build
 

With a cold and calm night ahead, the lake should ice up in many areas. CLA's readings at 2' and 10' demonstrate the lake is ready to freeze. If the light snow in the forecast happens, that should help the ice to thicken. With some windy weather ahead, it is questionable that the ice will hold everywhere, but it should in a lot of places.

The next calm period looks to be just after Christmas, so if it does not lock up tonight, it looks to be mostly open until between Christmas and New Years.

R2B

2-3" in spots
 

Moultonboro bay and north is frozen solid. No open water to be seen anywhere. There was a snow fog on the bay as the winds blew strong on Monday. Tuesday AM, the ice tested 2-3" in several spots. Its brittle - but held my weight without complaint. This afternoon, I could hear the ice singing, a sure sign that its getting stronger. It looks like a warm spell coming, but hopefully the rest of the lake will ice-up before it gets too warm.

Thanks a lot for the update LG. That's just what I wanted to hear. Keep the pictures coming if you have time.

Ice fishermen were seen on Lilly Pond this morning, and several small ponds along Rt. 104 in Meredith have bob houses.

Ice Forming
 

We were watching ice form on the surface of the lake between Minge Cove and Sleeper's Island just before sundown today. With the air temp. at 13 degs at 8 PM and calm air, a large expanse of ice could form by morning. The unknown element is the wind ... if it stays calm the ice will grow thicker. If the wind picks up, any skim ice that forms tonight could be destroyed.

Ice in
 

Loks like the Lake froze over last night according to the various Cams, can anyone confirm??

Not Frozen Over
 

There are some areas of skim ice between Minge Cove and Sleepers Island, but other than that the lake is open water from West Alton all the way to Wolfeboro this morning. Kind of surprising, as the current air temp. is 15 degs with no wind at all overnight or this morning.

Here's a photo taken at 10 AM looking east from near Minge Cove:

http://www.echoshores.com/ice-in/2008/121907.jpg

Weirs bay looks all frozen on the Weirs cam at 1:45 pm

There was a skim coat this morning in the area of Ames Farm, Diamond Island and the south side of Rattlesnake. Actually saw a pontoon boat doing some icebreaking while heading in the direction of Rattlesnake from the Ames Farm area. One good wind and it's all gone though.

Ice-in?
 

The ice froze in at the Black Cat WeatherCam overnight. There is ice, as far as I can see to the southeast (down to southern Bear, Jolly, Steamboat.) There is also ice to the southwest (Beaver Is.)

It looks very thin but has survived today's easterly wind which has averaged 8-10 mph.

There is snow on our doorstep, perhaps 6 inches by tomorrow noon. This should solidify the existing lake ice for the winter, although it may result in slightly weaker or thinner ice than last year since snow ice is never as dense as water ("black") ice.

Strange how this thread started from an ice storm and is now lake ice. Ice is ice!:D

I hadn't looked till last night after dark, but Weirs Gal's headlights seem to have illuminated a nice, fresh layer of semi-snow covered ice as far out as I could see. Hopefully tonight I can get home before dark, it was all open water as of Tuesday again.

I am assuming Winter Harbor is solid. Can anyone confirm?

In another thread Flyguy has an photo from an airplane.You can't quite see Winter harbor but just to the north Cow Island is iced in on the east/northeast pretty solid.It looks like to me Winter Harbor would be totally frozen.

Thanks! Merry Christmast to everyone!

Yes, Winter Harbor is all frozen, but I don't know if it is safe. THere has been noone out there, so would guess it isn't. Today after the rain, it is mostly like a skating rink.