Baptiste ice conditions

[baptiste_moose]

I was out at my cabin on Friday night after a WT hunt and decided I would do an ice check. 300 yds off shore was 3" of ice. If more snow falls up there before a good freeze it's gonna be hooped like 2 winters ago. Flood water city!!

Island, Lawrence and ghost all looked like rotten crud and no sleds on island yet so I'm assuming the same thickness. Hope this helps.

[Mike_W]

Yikes not good I was hoping the lakes would be a little further along

[Garry B]

I was concerned this would happen. Man I hate snow! But last time I checked I'm not in charge of the weather and that's likely a good thing. :snapoutofit:

[Jamie Black R/T]

bad news....glad i have a long track sled

[Penner]

I was out at my cabin on Friday night after a WT hunt and decided I would do an ice check. 300 yds off shore was 3" of ice. If more snow falls up there before a good freeze it's gonna be hooped like 2 winters ago. Flood water city!!

Island, Lawrence and ghost all looked like rotten crud and no sleds on island yet so I'm assuming the same thickness. Hope this helps.

3" of ice is not going to support very much snow fall. Snow cover on a lake at this time of year isn’t a big deal as the weight of the snow will push the ice below the surface level of the lake and in turn freeze itself thus effectively eliminating most of the snow cover on the lake.

Snowfall accumulation January and onward is the snow fall one needs to be worried about.

[baptiste_moose]

3" of ice is not going to support very much snow fall. Snow cover on a lake at this time of year isn’t a big deal as the weight of the snow will push the ice below the surface level of the lake and in turn freeze itself thus effectively eliminating most of the snow cover on the lake.

Snowfall accumulation January and onward is the snow fall one needs to be worried about.

I completely disagree with your theory. If the ice is not strong enough to support the weight it cracks and water runs up between the snow and the surface of the ice. It will not freeze up because it is insulated by the snow. If there was a foot of ice already and we got a big dump then there would be nothing to worry about. You do know ice forms from below right?

[coppercarbide]

3" of ice is not going to support very much snow fall. Snow cover on a lake at this time of year isn’t a big deal as the weight of the snow will push the ice below the surface level of the lake and in turn freeze itself thus effectively eliminating most of the snow cover on the lake.

Snowfall accumulation January and onward is the snow fall one needs to be worried about.

I'm with baptiste on this one man. It's not like the whole ice surface just goes down equally and it all floods over. From my experience it 'leaks' upwards, then hits the cold air. It doesn't melt the snow all the way, as the water is already very near 0 degrees. So it just kinda freezes into this ****ty half-snow half-water mess. That's where the 'white ice' comes from, and has very little strength compared to real ice.

[Penner]

Thanks for pointing out the obvious that ice generally forms from the bottom.

If there were 12" of ice or more already formed on the lake then yes the water would sneak up between the snow and the surface of the ice and may not necessarily freeze up because it would be insulated by the snow. The ice being that 12” or more in thickness will certainly have enough buoyancy to support a large snow fall thus causing the situation as described above to occur.

As we only have a few inches of ice on the big lakes right now and because there is only a few inches of ice on the lake the entire ice surface of the lake will be pushed below the water level as the ice does not have enough buoyancy and cannot support all of the weight of the snow this early in the season thus effectively flooding the entire ice surface which will eventually turn the snow into slush and freeze over a period of time.

If we stop seeing large snow falls for the next month or so, I’ll guarantee you by mid-January when you are out auguring a hole you’ll see a few inches of white ice with no flood water to speak of. If it continues to snow at this pace for the remainder of winter, I will agree we will see flood water for most of the ice fishing season and we might be welcoming the arrival of the next ice age

[finner-duramax]

Thanks for pointing out the obvious that ice generally forms from the bottom.

If there were 12" of ice or more already formed on the lake then yes the water would sneak up between the snow and the surface of the ice and may not necessarily freeze up because it would be insulated by the snow. The ice being that 12” or more in thickness will certainly have enough buoyancy to support a large snow fall thus causing the situation as described above to occur.

As we only have a few inches of ice on the big lakes right now and because there is only a few inches of ice on the lake the entire ice surface of the lake will be pushed below the water level as the ice does not have enough buoyancy and cannot support all of the weight of the snow this early in the season thus effectively flooding the entire ice surface which will eventually turn the snow into slush and freeze over a period of time.

If we stop seeing large snow falls for the next month or so, I’ll guarantee you by mid-January when you are out auguring a hole you’ll see a few inches of white ice with no flood water to speak of. If it continues to snow at this pace for the remainder of winter, I will agree we will see flood water for most of the ice fishing season and we might be welcoming the arrival of the next ice age

when that slushy water does freeze it makes for very crappy ice, and you can see that when your auguring. but if there is enough snow that flood water will not freeze.

[Penner]

6" of flood ice on top of 5" of clear hard ice. that was 135m straight out from the launch 8' water

Check mate!