Although, assumably, it is several weeks away, with this thread, we will update ice conditions as we see them from our Wealthwood location. Ice thickness, of course, can vary, so what we report here is what our lake staff has experienced, firsthand, but surely should not be used as a general lake-wide viewpoint. As winter progresses, we will also update ice travel conditions here, as well.
Stay tuned!
You are killing me with the ice talk…
I am not ready to put the boat away yet.
Mike
With single digit temps and calm seas, the rising sun is shining on a skim of ice this morning. Obviously, any breeze at all will break things up. No doubt, the first calm nights of sub zero temps could be all it takes. Normal walking ice is around December 10th.
Some open patches of water now forming along the west and north end.
4 wheeler out on Isle Bay today at 1:30… 
big G
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4 wheeler out on Isle Bay today at 1:30…
big G
We have about 1.5″ of ice. THAT was proven this past Saturday when two snowmobiles went by and proceeded to break through–landing with the windshields barely sticking out of the water.
It’s very possible the big wind and snow coming in the next 24 hrs. will open most of the lake.
6 inches of fresh snow and more to come. Looks like either open water or flooded ice. We’ll know more when the wind dies down tomorrow.
The view is now clear. ALL is open water as far as the eye can see to the south, east and west. Some portions of the north shore, toward Myr Mar and Garrison, have several 100 yds. of the thin, slushy ice still attached to shore, with a wide open lake out from those areas as well.
This may not be a bad thing. Right???
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This may not be a bad thing. Right???
This probably eliminates having “early” ice. We are still at least 3 or more weeks away from what would be a normal driving ice time frame.
Hello Red Door, the buzz around the office (work) is Ice Fishing! Adam G and I are excited to get out this year, Adam is really excited about his new house. I’m trying to convince Uecker to bring the “Flat Tire” house back up.
I’m curious to know what the update is tomorrow morning. From what I have heard there was no ice on the north side, except for a small amount on the shore line yesterday. I’m curious to know if the wind comes down tonight, looks like some colder evening temps coming.
As long as the weather forecast doesn’t change, it looks like a good setup. I think it is for the better we don’t have ice yet… if this wind stays down and we done get snow we should be sitting good. Smooth ice!!
Cant wait… Mitch
No snow on the new ice, yet, that formed late yesterday and over night. This morning, the guys needed one light chop with a chisel to poke through the main lake ice.
At 2 pm. today (Friday the 3rd), the guys checked the main lake ice thickness and found a consistent 2.5 inches. Some was 2 inches and some pushing 3 inches. There is no snow on the main lake ice. The older ice, some ice that didn’t break open along shore to the west, is 5.5 inches on average, with some 5 and some 6 inches thick. None of the older ice is in deeper water than 10ft. until you get west toward Myr Mar, where it goes out as far as a 1/2 mile from shore. The older ice has about 2 inches of snow on it.
Since 2 pm. this past Friday, when the main lake ice was measured at 2.5″, this morning they measured it at 3″. With temps in the teens and now a couple inches of fluffy snow on it, it seems to be a slow process for now. NO 4 wheelers and sleds are allowed on the ice in our area as of now. It’s even marginal, at best, for walking ice.
The extended forcast looks like colder temps but I dont know if it is could enough.
How much snow do we have on the ice on the north side?
At 10 am. today, the ice measured 3.75 inches. There is aboout 2-3 inches of fluffy snow on the main lake ice. Less in some areas as you get out further–more toward shore. No doubt, it is very possible to have enough ice (5-6 inches)for ATV traffic by this coming weekend.
Thanks for keepin us posted ill be at the cabin this week end. Do you have a restaraunt at the red door and what are the hours? 
Did anyone happen to have checked the ice today? I’m curious to know at what rate we are putting ice on…
If we keep putting on 3/4 of an inch a night, it is going to be around 17 more days before we have drivable (trucks) ice on the north side.
Long range forcast shows we might have some sub-zero nights coming soon…
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Thanks for keepin us posted ill be at the cabin this week end. Do you have a restaraunt at the red door and what are the hours?
No Brandon, we do not have a restaurant. Heggies pizza is available in our motel office.
Ice thickness is a very slow process. We gained another 3/4″ since yesterday. Now our main lake ice just under 5″. We watched two guys today, one with an ATV and the other on a snowmobile, break through on that 4-5 inch ice. Their momentum kept them from going all the way down but not until they had shattered a piece of ice over 100ft. long and 30ft wide. About 15 floating chunks of ice as big as cars were behind them when they finally got onto stable ice. That was in about 5-6 ft. of water out from Knox Point.
As we said earlier in the week, there is some older ice about 2 inches thicker to the west a mile and that’s where you will see some locals out with small houses.
Therefore, we are not allowing nor recommending any ice travel in our area except walking. Maybe by the weekend we will get another inch or more and then things should be good to go with ATV’s and snow sleds.
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Thanks for keepin us posted ill be at the cabin this week end. Do you have a restaraunt at the red door and what are the hours?
In the resort they have Heggies pizza and a pizza cooker!
If you are looking for bar food, you can find a couple of places close by….
Thanks guys, cant go wrong with a heggies. 
Looks like they are still forecasting colder temps for Sat-Mon. Hopefully we can put on a couple of inches of ice.
Red Door do you think there is any chance we have houses out before Christmas?
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Looks like they are still forecasting colder temps for Sat-Mon. Hopefully we can put on a couple of inches of ice.
Red Door do you think there is any chance we have houses out before Christmas?
It all depends on snow fall/temps. One thing for sure is that we never rush it. Not only for safety-sake but also going on marginal ice thickness causes major flooding around the big houses and in the end, more headaches for house owners than a couple days extra of fishng is worth.
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Looks like they are still forecasting colder temps for Sat-Mon. Hopefully we can put on a couple of inches of ice.
Red Door do you think there is any chance we have houses out before Christmas?
It all depends on snow fall/temps. One thing for sure is that we never rush it. Not only for safety-sake but also going on marginal ice thickness causes major flooding around the big houses and in the end, more headaches for house owners than a couple days extra of fishng is worth.
I’m completely with you…been there done that with the water.. I hate it.. If I don’t have good ice under my house, I don’t even want to drill holes, flooding stinks!
Any chance we could get a ice update later today? I’m trying to gauge the amount of ice we are putting on. We are starting to get a little snow in the cities as of 9am today.
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Any chance we could get a ice update later today? I’m trying to gauge the amount of ice we are putting on. We are starting to get a little snow in the cities as of 9am today.
You are not the only one. I am anxious to get the house on the ice!
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Any chance we could get a ice update later today? I’m trying to gauge the amount of ice we are putting on. We are starting to get a little snow in the cities as of 9am today.
You are not the only one. I am anxious to get the house on the ice!
The ice thickness where no one has traveled is not changing very fast with temps like we’ve had. The major cold snap over the next few days will show bigger and better ice growth. We’ll check on things Friday, first thing, and then on Monday after the cold snap and report back.
I got my fingers crossed the snow stays south of the lake….
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I got my fingers crossed the snow stays south of the lake….
That’s what the ice guys have been saying all day. They checked this afternoon and still found 5″ everywhere they cut. They checked from shore to 25ft. of water. Average 5″ of ice. We’ll report back on Monday after the cold,wind and snow.
Here is the latest for Aitkin County:
Issued by The National Weather Service
Duluth, MN
3:07 pm CST, Fri., Dec. 10, 2010
… WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO MIDNIGHT CST SATURDAY NIGHT…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DULUTH HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW… WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO MIDNIGHT CST SATURDAY NIGHT. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* TIMING AND LOCATION: SNOW WILL SPREAD ACROSS SOUTHERN AITKIN COUNTY AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. THE SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND MAY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES… THEN DISSIPATE TO SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS SATURDAY EVENING.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 6 TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED.
* WINDS AND VISIBILITY: NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WHICH COULD REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN A MILE AT TIMES.
* MAIN IMPACT: THE ACCUMULATING… BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL MAKE TRAVEL HAZARDOUS. BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS OF 20 TO 40 BELOW ZERO ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW MEANS THE COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS AND FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WILL CAUSE DANGEROUSLY LOW VISIBILITY AND DRIFTING SNOW. SNOW AND ICE COVERED ROADS… AND DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED. DELAY TRAVEL IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL… USE EXTREME CAUTION AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION. BE AWARE THAT YOU MAY BECOME STRANDED AND THAT IT COULD TAKE MANY HOURS FOR HELP TO ARRIVE. KEEP A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT IN YOUR VEHICLE… INCLUDING A FLASHLIGHT… FOOD… AND WATER. LET SOMEONE KNOW YOUR TRAVEL ROUTE AND EXPECTED ARRIVAL TIME AND HAVE A WORKING CELL PHONE IN CASE YOU BECOME STRANDED.
I was in Onamia on Sunday, looked like there was about 6 inches of fresh snow in the drive way.
With the wind out of the south all day on Sunday I hope it blew all the snow to the south side of the lake. I got about 10 MPG driving up north on Sunday morning, that wind was bad, I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like out on the lake with a portable.
Looks like it is going to stay cold until about Wednesday.
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