May long and ice
 

With the ice so thick this last winter and the cold we are still having in April. I think a lot of lakes may not be ice free on the May long this year. Only about 6 weeks to melt 3 plus feet of ice. What are your thoughts. My guess is not all major lakes will be ice free till June this year. Usually they are ice free a couple weeks before the May long.

Climate getting warmer ? Ya, right ! A couple years like this and the climate guru's will be crying wolf in the other direction. Maybe the carbon tax is working ? Hahahahahaha

It's called climate change not global warming anymore and yes I think a lot of the Lakes will be frozen by May long weekend. Not supposed to start warming up for another 2 weeks around here above zeros at night anyway

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A good warm may rain will melt the ice. I gotta work May long anyways lol

A good wind and some rain & Sylvan will be ice free ....

I'm bringing back some Palm Springs weather with me next week.

For the old school 39C = 102F!

D.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/7mdT20y.jpg[/IMG]

weather
 

Dont take to long with that Palm Springs weather---Most everyone here on the ropes, with the record bad weather and all.

The good news... lots of lakes to ice fish for the next few weeks yet!

May Long Weekend is going to be a gong show this year...

It all depends on what the end of April and beginning of May bring us for weather. If we keep up the trend of being 10-20 degrees colder then normal then many lakes will still have ice.

If we get back to average or above average temperatures then the ice will melt fast and most lakes will likely be ice free.

26 inches of ice on spray yesterday and -15 so im sure it will be a while before its ice free. I guess a week of sun and +15 could change that quick though, if that ever comes

I'm pretty sure the ice will be long gone by May long weekend. Wind will peel it off. Maybe some of the higher mountain lakes won't be open but the prairie lakes will be.

Living 6 hours north of Edmonton my whole life, more often than not, the lakes were ice free by may long. Some years though they are still locked in with ice. As stated, nobody will know unless they can forecast the weather for the next month.

Three years ago it was similar to now and a week before May Long I figured that the ice would still be on Lac Ste Anne. By May Long it was gone......in one week's time.

Ice fishers gonna love it. Open water fishers gonna have a short season. Not sure if I should de-winterize my boat :thinking-006: with the maybe 4 months before freeze up again :angry3: HA HA Gonna do it anyways. Rivers will be thawed. No boat needed. Making me think I should have a JET BOAT. :sign0161: Way too funny. Might have to golf more this year :sEm_oops2: I don't think so TIM:fighting0030:

I'm betting Pigeon will be iced up May long. It would have to get unseasonable warm to be free and that, so far, seems unlikely to happen. I'll be in the USA anyways hopefully fishing some amazing rivers and some different water in AZ.

I suspect it will be right down to the wire for larger central Alberta lakes being ice free for May Long. For larger lakes up North if I had to place a wager today I'd put my money on them being covered. Lots of snow pack out there.

To the OP figuring that 3 feet of ice will melt away. The ice gets rotten and the wind breaks it up. Pushing the chunks of ice around, pieces rubbing against each other. One day the ice is there, next day it's gone. But still need some warm day's to cause any snow cover to melt and the ice to rot.

Minus 25 here Friday night and -23 last night. Takes until about 2:00PM before the mercury rises to -7! That's 20 degrees below normal.

Meanwhile, a little separation anxiety going on in regards to the Lund.

Free

Back bays on cold lake will be open...can you say walleye!!!!

Every now and then Ice out is right before the may Long.

Been to Fawcett years back, you couldn't launch boats at the west campground but the east side resort was clear as the wind pushed the remaining ice onto the west shore.

Been on Peerless on the May Long chipping ice for the coolers off a shoreline because we forgot to bring some.

Been to a few lakes where the weekend before, the campground operator says covered but rotten. Call on Wednesday and it's all gone.

I think were in for a late ice out and slow fishing on the May Long this year.

Yes,,,, other than for a very brief period after ice out (usually in the first week or so after ice out when the shallows warm up faster than the main lake),,, generally you need another couple weeks to get lake turnover over and done with,,, and spawning fish a chance to recuperate ,,, then the fishing will take off!!!

It’s hard to say about may long. It’s been colder than normal that’s for sure but it really all boils down to getting 1-2 weeks of 15+ degree weather prior to May long. If that happens, regardless of how cold it’s been, the Ice will come off. If it does not happen there is a good chance the ice will remain. Fingers crossed for some consistent warm weather between now and then. I’m supposed to fish may 27-30 so I’ve got a few extra days. If ice isn’t off by then I might actually lose my $h!t.

Hell there is only 4.5 weeks for the Southern ponds to open. Next 15 days have the nights below zero.

I think a need a Kleenex to wipe some tears away.

Dodger

I welcome global warming with open arms. Majority of my fishing is done on the open water.

Im willing to bet there will still be enough ice that someone tries to drive on opening day. We need at least one truck through the ice thread this year! :lol:

That would be good for open water opening day:

:1041:

Seen Pinehurst iced up a few May Long weekends now.

Until you get rid of the snow pack on the ice, the sun does not penetrate to the lake bottom to get the heat starting underneath in the shallows.

Rain can sure help, but it takes alot of rain to cause a phase change. I understand it is 84 joules of energy to take a cubic centimeter of ice to liquid state.

Wind can push the ice on shore, somewhat, but sometimes that just plugs and destroys the boat launch as well.

Drewski

Water on top (from Rain etc) with warm wind can rot ice quite quickly I have found. Then if you can get a bit of wave action it can break up the chandler ice in a hurry. By the way I think the 84 must be calories because the latent heat for ice to water is 333.55 Joules.

but how many joules does it take to melt the ice my beer is sitting in? :cheers:

I was at Lac Ste Anne yesterday and the ice is still thick BUT the ice is very wet and it was clogging up in my chainsaw. Next it will start to rot. Water was flowing over the top of the weir at the Sturgeon River and it’s open water below that. I predict that it’ll be out the week before May Long but there’ll be a ton of ice pushed up onshore.

I'm really curious to see what the ice will do this year at Lac Ste. Anne, especially if the wind starts kicking up and that ice starts moving...:scared0018:

My hope is to have my tinner out on Wabamun for the May long, as long as the weather cooperates!

Heat is transferable from all sources. So, as the ground heats up, it transfers at least a portion of it to the lake. The only perfect insulator is a vacuum.

It takes 1 calorie to heat 1g of water 1C. There are 4.2 joules/calorie. Conservation of energy works both ways, so cooling 1 mL of water from 10C (the average temperature of a spring shower) to 0C (the temperature of ice at phase change) will transfer 42 joules of heat energy.

We need to take into account that ice is less dense than water. So 1g of water is 1 cm^3 or 1 mL. 1cm^3 of ice is 0.9g

if you want to do all the ratios, it takes approximately 7mL of water at 10C to change 1mL of ice into water. since heat is being transferred from all directions. The ice itself is not an infinite heat sink. The water underneath the ice will be at 4C and the air temperature will be above zero, it thusly will take less than 7ml of 10C rainwater to change 1g of ice into pike fishing time!!