An Update on the Ice Conditions

Went out on the ice last week, Dec. 21st and drilled two holes. One at 50 yards... showed 4 inches of good, black ice and 2 inches of refrozen, slush ice, which is still fairly solid... just not as good an ice as we like to see. At 100 yards the good black ice decreased to 3 inches with the same 2 inch white ice topper. We didn't go any further, we like to see a good 5 inches of solid black ice before venturing out too far.

Now.... since then.... that is a different story. We have had two good snowfalls, some minus 16 degree Celsius weather and some 0 degree Celsius melts. Currently, and for the past two days the daytime highs have been a balmy minus 4*C.... and the fresh, fluffy, white, clean, snow on the lake is becoming patchy with large grey areas... not many mind you, but enough to take note of. We headed out yesterday and was stopped at 50 yards by one of these great, grey patches. Charley... the dog would not approach it.... he has a pretty good instinct about ice. Dick... minus the dogs good sense... got as close as he dared and dug with his boot to find the bottom ice. This ice was soft on top (he could easily scrape it with his boot), on top of that was a 4 inch layer of water and slush, then the wet grey snow that was visible to the naked eye.

Around this grey patch one could only see soft, fluffy, beautiful, white snow.... but digging underneath revealed the water and slush layer... so that tells us that there could be areas of water and bad ice hidden under the snow not visible to the unwary traveler. Needless to say we didn't go any further. Unfortunately we didn't drill the ice either so I can't report on how many inches there was.... I was just happy when Dick turned back to join Charley and I.

Harald, our happy European wanderer headed out on the Kibbee Lake trail yesterday. He reported a few dead fall trees over the trail, about 1 foot of snow overall on the trail and the tracks of a wanderer who had traveled before him. Still the snow was still very soft and tiring to slog through.

The Lake is Changing Daily

The lake is changing daily…. or at least it was. My weather entries from two weeks ago read as such….

Dec. 8, 2012 – AM – Three nights of minus 10 or lower…. north end of the lake is skimming over with a thin crust of ice. The bays to the left and right are filled and a narrow finger of ice joins in the middle out near the point below Devils Club Mountain. The North end (right in front) is still open and the far end (south) is still open water. I can see a faint rippling pattern forming on the water as I write. Indicates the continual formation of new ice on top of water. The thin layer of ice that has formed is supporting the bit of snow that is falling.

Dec. 9, 2012 – AM – This morning the north end of the lake is completely skimmed over and holding snow. The snow has been windblown over the ice forming a beautiful rippling design. There is a thick fog this morning -- can’t see beyond the point to the south end of the Lake. Through binoculars faint darker bands seem to suggest open water beyond the point. It is currently snowing with strong gusting winds.

LATER – During our walk along the lake shore, Charley could venture a short distance from shore, but Dick kept falling through.

Dec. 8, 2012... the ice along the shore was basically solidified slush, notice the dog prints to the right of Dick and where Dick tried to walk near the center of the shoreline.

 2:30pm – As far as we can see the Lake seems to have a skim of ice over all. Need to walk to a better vantage point to see beyond the point. I suspect the Lake might be completely skimmed over on the south end or else the gusting winds would’ve chewed up the edges by now, therefore breaking up the ice. It is still storming - snowing with high gusting winds – the snow is ‘falling’ perpendicular.

Dec. 10, 2012 – Walked along the shore all way to Taylor’s shoreline. Couldn’t make it up their steps because a landslip was blocking my way, so I wasn’t able to get a higher vantage point. But from where I stood on the shore it looks to me, like the South end is all white – indicating ice coverage holding snow. I know I’ve been wrong before -- the south end has a life of its own completely different from our north end… but I think I will call the night of December 9 the official freeze up (the first one so far). Let’s see if it lasts…. hopefully a heavy snowfall or high winds won’t sink or it break-up.

This never happened! By Dec. 16th we were venturing a short distance from shore. Of course we won’t go too far out for a while yet, but if one stays where one knows the water is shallow, there’s no danger. I hope that by early next week, we can go out to drill a few test holes.
 

Dec. 16, 2012.... things are much more solid now.

The Weather Report ????!

Hummmn..... lets see........rainy snow, high winds, warm frost, plus 4 C with a wind chill of minus 20 C.... a real mixed bag!!!

Dec 3rd, 2012 -- Pink sky in morning, sailors take warning....

The storm moved the evening of Dec. 3rd -- This is the morning of Dec. 4th, 2012 -- Sleet, snow, rain, high winds -- wonderful whitecaps... on the lake not the mountains!!

The calm after the storm, afternoon of Dec. 4th, 2012