Want to predict 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. The contest will close on March 5th.
The predictions will be recorded in two ways, one with the exact time and date and the other will be a general time frame. The exact times of guesses will not be published until the end of the contest period. The general time frames, that will be posted on the website, will be Early March, Mid March, Late March, Early April, Mid April and Late April. (The ice better be out by May!) Posting only the general time frames for the guesses means 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 date and time. The existing submissions will be updated regularly.
The contest is now open. All submissions will be made by email. *Limit one guess per person. Send your guess as an email to: info@wentworthwatershed.org
Please also include “Ice Out Guess” in the subject line. Make sure that you include the date and time of day and whether it is AM or PM.
Dates of previous Ice Outs are given below. Deadline for submissions is Sunday, March 5th at 11:59 PM. If you win, you get bragging rights and even a small 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 closest to the “judged” time. A committee (that varies) makes the decision. All committee members are certified by the International Commission for Exactness (ICE).
Current Guesses for 2023
| Early March | Kathy Shea | 3/10/2023 | 4:00pm |
| Mid March | John Buttrick | 3/15/2023 | 9:00am |
| Eric Ouhrabka | 3/17/2023 | 1:00pm | |
| Piper Ouhrabka | 3/20/2023 | 1:00pm | |
| Late March | Nancy Gilbert | 3/22/2023 | 4:22pm |
| Bill Durfee | 3/23/2023 | 11:00am | |
| Sara Buttrick | 3/24/2023 | 3:00pm | |
| Daniel Weidner | 3/28/2023 | 2:15pm | |
| Mary Ellen Galanis | 3/29/2023 | 9:00am | |
| Katie Ellis | 3/29/2023 | 3:00pm | |
| Jim Keegan | 3/30/2023 | 11:27am | |
| Karen Ouhrabka | 3/30/2023 | 11:59pm | |
| Brian Ouhrabka | 3/31/2023 | 2:00pm | |
| Early April | Jack Ouhrabka | 4/1/2023 | 1:00pm |
| Becky Arnold | 4/1/2023 | 1:15pm | |
| Scott Ragusa | 4/1/2023 | 3:00pm | |
| Sage Hayes | 4/2/2023 | 9:00am | |
| Brooke Arnold | 4/2/2023 | 11:14am | |
| Tom Ouhrabka | 4/2/2023 | 2:00pm | |
| Hugh Crawford | 4/3/2023 | 3:36pm | |
| Peter Goodwin | 4/4/2023 | 10:30am | |
| Jillian Heimiller | 4/4/2023 | 11:53am | |
| Susan Ouhrabka | 4/5/2023 | 2:00pm | |
| Hunt Goodwin | 4/6/2023 | 9:30am | |
| Ethan Arnold | 4/6/2023 | 10:34am | |
| Joe Irwin | 4/6/2023 | 11:00am | |
| Steve Arnold | 4/8/2023 | 8:15am | |
| Timothy Robson | 4/9/2023 | Noon | |
| Mid April | Shane Arnold | 4/11/2023 | 1:04pm |
| Lisa Arnold | 4/13/2023 | 12:30pm | |
| Susan Goodwin | 4/13/2023 | 4:15pm | |
| E. James Smith | 4/14/2023 | 6:33am | |
| Bruce Gifford | 4/14/2023 | 3:00pm | |
| Gayle Craven | 4/16/2023 | 2:00pm | |
| Jean Irwin | 4/16/2023 | 3:00pm | |
| Late April | |||
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 2020 Apr. 3 10:30 AM 2021 Apr. 1 7:00 AM 2022 April 4 5:45 PM
2023 April 14 3:00 PM