The ice on the lake really wasn’t that thick going into the Christmas storm and the west wind on the 26th got rid of most of the ice on the lake. Well, then, there is a chance to get back to great skating but it will be a work in progress. After the last storm, well over 2 feet of light snow was around the lake, it had basically sunk into the water on the lake and there was hope for good skating. The Christmas storm included 50 degree temperatures and wind as well as a little less than an inch of rain. Most snow is now gone and the lake has lost a lot of ice. As of the morning of the 26th, more than 3/4s of the lake was ice free and more may have disappeared as the wind made waves during the day.
Things were starting to change on the 24th. Water was on the surface of some ice, near Brummitt Island and the temperature was rising.
On Christmas, it was looking more like the ice was going to go out but most of the lake was still frozen.
But on the morning of the 26th, waves were on the open water with a section of ice in the lee of Stamp Act and Cate. Ice was also still on west shores as the wind hadn’t broken it up.
Basically, there was no ice to the south of Stamp Act. We will have to wait until it freezes again.
One thing to remember in the Spring is that buoys get moved by the ice. The picture, below, shows two of the buoys at the west end of the channel between Point of Pines and Brummitt Island. The red buoy has been moved so it is to the left of the black buoy (that is lying down in the ice so it is a bit hard to see). The black buoy needs to be passed on the north side and if you go south of that, you hit a big rock. With the red buoy where it is now, this is confusing and boaters might hit the rock. It may actually be hung up on the big rock that the locals call “Kings Rock”. In the Spring, be careful out there, the ice moves buoys and this shows an example.
