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Spotlight



ICE-OUT 2008

 

The pictures below on this page document the spectacular events of 2008.  That year a late season storm of over a foot of heavy, wet snow slowed the process by temporarily insulating the ice below from the warmth and sunshine, until it too had melted.  Of course, since lake-ice melts from the bottom up, this blanket did not stop the melting, but it certainly did slow the increase by reflecting the sun's light and heat.  The official Ice-Out date for 2008 was May 8.  This is the day when all the ice, on shore and water, was gone.  (Ice-out definitions do vary among reporters, with some calling ice-out when 90% is gone, or when the lake become navigatable.)

 
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Ice-Out photos from 2008:

 

April 21:
Ice is turning black.
(Note the residual snowmobile tracks toward shore)
  
 
 
April 22:
Snow blankets the lake in white.
 
 
April 25:
Ice is darkening again.
 
 
May 2:
Following some days of cold and stasis, we see more progress toward Ice-Out.  Once the ice is less than a foot thick it will begin to form "candles," which are verical shafts of ice crystals (not cubes yet).  Once the ice is candled it will not last long.
 
 
 May 2:
Ice recedes from north shore
 
 
May 4:
Open patch in the middle.
 
 
May 4:
Ice piles up on Christmas Point.
 
 
May 4:
Ice blows back to northern shore.  Listen for the constant tinkling as it slowly piles higher.
 
 
 
May 4:
Later in the day winds shift to leave a slushy shore behind.
 
 
May 4:
Thin ice only in the middle.
 
 
                              May 6:
Almost gone!  The remaining ice blows back and forth around the lake.  Some spotters might call this "ice-out" since one could boat over to Christmas Point.  All the ice will be gone by May 8, 2008.


 
Spring has Sprung!    Photos by Tom Nelson, south from Sherwood Forest Trail.