March 3rd Is The Final Date for Ice Out Guesses

Please send all guesses to info@wentworthwatershed.org Include ICE OUT GUESS in the heading.

Want to guess the day and time the ice on the lake goes out? Now is your chance. The Ice Out Contest will be in last year’s format. The exact time and date of guesses won’t be published but just the “ranges” of the guesses. This will be closer to the model for the Ice Out Contest on the Tanana River, that flows through Fairbanks, Alaska. (The prize for guessing ice-out for that contest averages over $250,000 and we are sorry the prize for the Lake Wentworth Ice Out won’t be that large, not even close- think coffee mug or hat). The Tanana ice out is all blind guessing, you put your guess in an envelope (with money) and the envelopes are opened after the ice goes out.

The guesses will be recorded in two ways this year, one with the exact time and date and the other will be a general time frame. The time frames will be Early March, Mid March, Late March, Early April, Mid April and Late April. (The ice better be out by May!) The general time frames for the guesses will be reported on the website but not the exact times and dates. This will mean that people can just guess the date and time that they want and not worry about stepping on other people’s toes by guessing too close to someone else’s guess. The existing guesses will be updated regularly.

The contest is now open. All guesses should be submitted by email. Only one vote per person, please.

Send your guess in an email with “Ice Out Guess” as the subject line to info@wentworthwatershed.org 

Be sure that you include your name, the date, and the time (including AM or PM), that you predict that Ice Out will be declared. 

Dates of previous Ice Outs are given at the bottom of this article. Guessing will close on Sunday, March 3th at 11:59 PM. (There is little chance that the ice will be out by March 3rd.) If you win, you get bragging rights and maybe even a prize.

Ice Out is declared when “all the shores are free of ice” so that people could launch boats if they desired. This means that there are no “icebergs” floating around that would be dangerous for navigation. The winner is the person with the closest guess to the official Ice Out date and time. A committee of Association volunteers make the declaration. All committee members are certified by the International Commission for Exactness (ICE).

Current Guesses for 2019

Early March
Middle March Kate Ellis
Late March Jillian Heimiller
Patricia Coppins
Karen Ouhrabka
Early April skiff
Fran Fedele
Lee Arnold
Susan Ouhrabka
Becky Arnold
Charlie Landreth
Middle April Tom Ouhrabka
Keith Scarlet
Daniel Ross
Jean Erwin
Crownrock
Eric Ouhrabka
Cindy Landreth
Piper Ouhrabka
Late April Bruce Gifford
Dauson Bere
May Carl Crosley

Previous Ice Out Dates

1972 May 2      1973   April 26     1974  April 14    1975 April 24    1976  April 8    1977  April 18

1978  April 28   1979  April 23    1980  April 10    1981  March 31  1982  April 24   1983  April 4

1984  April 16   1985  March 31   1986  April 5    1987  April 12    1988  April 17    1989  April 17

1990  April 10   1991  April 6     1992  April 9     1993  April 20     1994  April 22     1995  April 1

1996  April 12    1997  April 20   1998  April 7    1999 April 8       2000   April 5     2001   April 28

2002   April 4    2003  April 24    2004   April 17   2005   Apr 17   5:30 PM    2006   Apr. 1  12:00 PM

2007   Apr. 23    6:00 AM    2008   Apr. 23    8:00 AM    2009   Apr. 12    6:00 AM    2010  Mar. 23     3:00 PM
2011 Apr. 20       2:30 PM    2012   March 22 12:00 PM    2013 Apr. 14   3:15 PM   2014 Apr. 19    3:00 PM

2015 Apr. 20     7:45 PM   2016 March 18    9:00 AM  2017 Apr. 16      7:00 PM    2018 April 24   8:15 AM

2019   Apr. 20   7:45 PM

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