2015 Great Lakes Ice Updates

Woody said:
Home base for me is Houghton, MI on the Keweenaw waterway. I get over to Bayfield/Apostle Island area once in a while but can't help you with the fishing other than to say that I always hear how good it is including ice fishing.
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Love it up there. I do an annual (except for last year) snowmobile trip in Houghton/Hancock. We rent the log cabin. We also sneak up to the abandoned Radar Base. Great times. Beautiful area! I've always wanted to boat there in the Summer, but my Weekender is a little small.......
 
OllieC said:
Love it up there. I do an annual (except for last year) snowmobile trip in Houghton/Hancock. We rent the log cabin. We also sneak up to the abandoned Radar Base. Great times. Beautiful area! I've always wanted to boat there in the Summer, but my Weekender is a little small.......
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Come on over. An advantage of boating around the peninsula is often when you can't run one shore, you can run the opposite side. I wouldn't rule out towing your boat over, maybe leaving it for a couple weeks. Lots of inland water to run around on if Superior is rough. You have 26 miles from N. Entry to S. Entry, off that you can run north from Portage Lake about 10 miles to Lake Linden. Watch the weather and you can get out on the lake too, we used to run our 200BR across Keweenaw Bay to the Huron Islands when things were right, about a 80 mile round trip, or up to Lac LaBelle, about 110 mile round trip. Here's an interactive NOAA chart of the area http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/14972.shtml

 
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It's here earlier than normal by far...

"The first sightings of ice on Lake Superior and the Great Lakes overall usually occur during the beginning to middle of December. However, a perfect combination of last season's record ice coverage, cooler summer temperatures, and an early blast of arctic air this fall has allowed for areas of ice to form earlier than normal for the second year in a row."



http://abcnews.go.com/US/ice-visible-lake-superior-weeks-ahead-schedule/story?id=26939239

MM
 
That should help keep water levels up for next year,just hope it dosnt meen later splashes.I am scheduled 3 weeks earlier than ever before.If i hadnt taken that date(april 22) it would have been 4 weeks later than usuall,or at the end of may.
 
There were thousands of ice fishermen on the saginaw river yesterday ,more than i have ever seen at one time.The mouth to the bay looked like a black wall from side to side because of all the shanties.Even though it went up to 45 degrees the 20mph winds kept it feeling pretty chilly.
 
I think I'll skip ice fishing the West Channel along Grand Island for a few days:

...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 4 AM EST FRIDAY... ...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 AM EST FRIDAY... * WIND AND WAVES DURING THE GALE WARNING: EXPECT SUSTAINED WINDS OF UP TO 35 KNOTS FROM THE NORTH...WITH GUSTS UP TO 46 KNOTS. THE LARGEST EXPECTED SIGNIFICANT WAVES WILL BE 14 FEET WITH A MAXIMUM WAVE HEIGHT OF UP TO 21 FEET POSSIBLE. * TIMING: THE MAXIMUM WINDS ARE EXPECTED AROUND 6 PM THURSDAY WITH THE LARGEST WAVES EXPECTED AROUND 7 PM THURSDAY. A HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 AM EST FRIDAY. * TIMING: EXPECT HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY TO OCCUR FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 AM EST FRIDAY.

I remember heading out on snowmobiles with buddies a few days after a blow like this. About 5 miles in from the open water, bringing up the rear and standing while riding I noticed water squirting up between large, 3 foot thick ice sheets that quickly got smaller. Quickly turned around for solid ice (which was still moving up and down a foot or two) thinking 911, throw lines and what I might need to do rescue my buddies who kept going. Fortunately no problems by the time they noticed and turned back but definitely a heart racing experience.
All at fault but our lead buddy says "it was rock solid two days ago" not thinking about the big blow. :smt021
 
There is a big difference between last year and this year in Muskegon. Last year this channel was frozen over.

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/metdata/mkg/
mkg08.jpg
 
The lakes are really starting to freeze up.

"Lake Erie is nearly totally frozen and Lake Superior and Lake Huron aren’t far behind. Large swaths of Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario are also iced. Overall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory reported that 84.4% of the lakes were under ice cover.

Last winter, freakishly cold weather caused record-setting levels of ice in four of the five Great Lakes, with 92.2% coverage by early March. The record for all lakes was set in 1979 with 94.7% ice coverage."


http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-great-lakes-frozen-over-20150223-story.html

MM
 
So with that said; any predictions on whether this season will freeze more of the lake than last years 92.2%?

My prediction is it will not beat last year.

MM
 
Much colder around here this year than last year. It's official this morning, February was THE coldest month ever in Buffalo since records began back in the 1800's
We've been in our house 34years, the mud room doesn't have a basement under it, and there is some heave..doors are a little sticky...never happened before.
looking forward to the lake levels being up again this year. I'll take all the extra water I can get if we make it to Georgian Bay and the North Channel.
 
Not sure about Boston, I think they're somewhere around 100", They are getting a lot of news time.

Buffalo is about 120" now, that's up there near all time highs. Where I live south of Buffalo, we have gotten a lot more because we are in the "snow belt" Lake Effect area.
We got that 7 feet in 4 days back in November that the national weather service recording station at the buffalo airport didn't get because that was all lake effect.
I had to shovel the roof twice this year, have only done it once before. At least we live in the Great Lakes watershed, so it will all end up there.

It is supposed to start to warm up a little and melt some of this snow pack this week.
 
Georgian Bay is good and frozen. Took the sleds up to Indian Harbour over the weekend. What takes an hour+ in the boat took 20 mins on the sled. lol.
 
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