{"id":10881,"date":"2024-02-11T11:07:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T11:07:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"ice-out-lake-climate-change-53977618\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=10881","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIce-in\u201d on Lake Winnipesaukee declared Friday, the latest date on record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Temperatures<\/a>
Temperatures have been mild this winter, and with a lot of open water on Lake Winnipesaukee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

If you\u2019re waiting for one of the signs that winter has finally arrived in New Hampshire \u2013 the declaration of \u201cice-in\u201d at Lake Winnipesaukee \u2013 it\u2019s been touch and go all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking this year we\u2019re not going to see it,\u201d said Dave Emerson of Emerson Aviation in Gilford, who has been giving the designation for a decade. \u201cThere\u2019s no arctic air I can see in the forecast.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Feb. 9, Emerson saw enough ice and declared \u201cice-in\u201d the latest date on record to do so. How long it lasts is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

It almost didn\u2019t happen last year until a blast of polar air hit on Feb. 3, dropping temperatures to 20 degrees below zero. Even so, that was the latest ice-in declaration on record.<\/p>\n

The lack of ice is not only getting in the way of pond hockey, ice-fishing derbies and the opening of the unique ice runway for small planes in Alton Bay, which won\u2019t happen for the second year in a row, but it\u2019s also getting in the way of repairs and maintenance for homes on the lake\u2019s islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple contractors invested in some airboats, so if the lake ice was thin they could still get out on the ice. But this year with the open water, they\u2019re not even attempting that,\u201d said Emerson. Regular boats can\u2019t be used because there\u2019s too much ice along the shoreline to launch them from docks.<\/p>\n

Contractors along the lake have seen a surge in another type of business, he said: Pulling out ATVs and even pickups that have fallen through the ice after they were driven onto the lake by optimistic, or perhaps foolhardy, owners.<\/p>\n

The 45th annual Ice Fishing Derby is still happening this weekend on Winnipesaukee and many other lakes, but officials are telling people to be extra cautious.<\/p>\n

Participants are urged to wear inflatable life vests and carry ice picks, so if they fall through the ice, they will stay afloat and can pull themselves out easily.<\/p>\n

The decline of \u201cwild ice\u201d on New Hampshire\u2019s lakes and ponds has been occurring for years as winters warm and the climate changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be not uncommon to see 3 (or) 4 feet of ice on the lake,\u201d said Emerson, 62, who was born in Wolfeboro. He was taught to fly by his father, who would take him out to practice takeoffs and landings on the frozen Lake Winnipesaukee. \u201cThe last time I saw 3 feet of ice was 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with lake ice forming isn\u2019t just warm weather, he said. Another obstacle is erratic precipitation, agitating the surface and making it harder for ice to form. In December, for example, New Hampshire had two snowstorms, each followed by heavy rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that running water funneled down into the lake and brought the lake level up. There was more (water) movement, the dam opened in Lakeport, the rivers and streams that run into the lake were rushing. It\u2019s spring-fed as well, which acts as a bubbler. With the warmer temperature, all this contributed,\u201d Emerson said.<\/p>\n

Emerson said it\u2019s easy to tell the condition and thickness of ice from a plane that is 1,500 feet above the surface once you know what you\u2019re looking for, even to know what is black ice and what is black water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a flight school; we use the lake as our practice area, so we have a bird\u2019s-eye view. We can tell the difference; we\u2019ve seen that even on the calmest days, you\u2019ll see a little bit of ripple where water is. And there\u2019s a white ring where water and ice meet, so you can see that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ice-in means most of the lake is frozen, but ice-out just means the MS Mount Washington boat can make it to its five ports of call and navigate around its usual route. Emerson has made the call since 2018; it usually happens in the first or second week of April.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re waiting for one of the signs that winter has finally arrived in New Hampshire \u2013 the declaration of \u201cice-in\u201d at Lake Winnipesaukee \u2013 it\u2019s been touch and go all season.\u201cI\u2019m thinking this year we\u2019re not going to see it,\u201d said Dave Emerson of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":10882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=142]David Brooks[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[514,12],"tags":[24,14,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[507],"class_list":["post-10881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-centerpiece-cm","category-town-city-government","tag-facebook","tag-granite-geek","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/42901308-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10883,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10881\/revisions\/10883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10881"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=10881"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}