Slush

I doubt it will freeze but you never know.

I’ve seen very cold years (I’m talking weeks of below zero) and many lakes have significant amounts of slush over them all winter.

I’m betting we’ll be wrestling slush all season.

We had an all day rain turned to snow then froze into an instant 3″ of ice in protected bays Thanksgiving night. So yes it can turn to milky white ice.

This isn’t slush on an ice sheet as it was on a lake that was wide open as the storm was approaching… it’s slush floating in the water if that makes a difference? I can’t imagine it wouldn’t freeze with low teen, single digit temps coming and no wind? Just wondering how safe it is.

Hi Alex, I think the water soaked snow will freeze just fine. I’m happy we didn’t have an inch or two of ice and then get spanked with heavy snow. In that case the snow insulates the existing ice and slows ice building. I’ll probably go scouting tomorrow after I get back from a short work related drive in the morning. I do believe the snow will become thoroughly soaked and freeze. The upside is the fish should not be able to see through it and be as spooky as they sometimes can be at first ice.

Good to know. I did some scouting in the La Crosse area today and everywhere was the same, all slush with no solid ice, but the slush was about 3″ thick. I figure it can only get better from here. I am also glad that it did not pile up on fresh ice. Ice will probably be sketchy still this weekend, but improving each day. I know I’m going to try and give it a go if possible.

I’ve always been told that when you have the slush the ice doesn’t freeze nearly as solid and you want to make sure you have an extra inch or two compared to what you would normally go on.

Alex Welter wrote:

This isn’t slush on an ice sheet as it was on a lake that was wide open as the storm was approaching… it’s slush floating in the water if that makes a difference? I can’t imagine it wouldn’t freeze with low teen, single digit temps coming and no wind? Just wondering how safe it is.

Yes the slush can and will freeze. NO, it will not be anywhere near as strong as clear ice.

In my limited experience slush takes a long ass time to firm up. Long ass as in weeks.

Remember that as it is not clear ice the sun will warm it easier. So if we get sunny days pay more attention to possible changing conditions.

Slush with snow on top doesn’t freeze worth a darn. If the floating slush settles to near nuetral bouyancy, it will freeze white, and then black ice will freeze below it as the winter progresses. Bottom line, you do not want snow on top of slush. One thing I’ve done several times when a lake gets slushy or “double layered”, is to get out there with a shovel if the ice is safe and clear a long lane out as far as I can or need to go. Getting the bare ice exposed to the air will help the ice freeze down faster and break the insulation factor, allowing the slush in that area to freeze solid as well. This works best if the next overnight temp gets down to zero or below. I’ll try to do a before and after video one of these days as a number of our small lakes are quite slushy right now.

Our slush here should be all gone after tonight.

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Single digits tonight should really start to make a difference….