If a lake is partially wide open now, generally, how much ice will this cold weather that is coming make in a week?
A lot, pretty quickly. Only a guide of course but we should have 6+ inches if the forecast holds.
Ice-Making-Chart.jpg
Depends how much snow is on top. Snow is a good insulator and prevents ice from forming at a normal rate. I’m sure everyone knows that solely based on last season.
We are so close to a ton of good ice right now. Most lakes will go from foot travel only to full size trucks pulling massive wheel houses in about 1 weeks time. Starting Fri. the Mille Lacs area has stretch of about 8 days where nightly lows are all below 0 and daytime highs not out of single digits. That will form a ton of ice rather quickly if we can avoid snow. Right now not much for snow in the forecast during that time period.
Depends how much snow is on top. Snow is a good insulator and prevents ice from forming at a normal rate. I’m sure everyone knows that solely based on last season.
Not sure there is a lot of places with a bunch of snow on top. It’s about to get real cold it will be forming ice fast.
open water so hardly any snow and all of that rain we got over Christmas was nice as the lake was really low this fall
curious…..i was up in itasca county fishing this past week……got home today. 2 lakes i fished the water was dirty………the cabin lake i couldnt even see the pike that poked my decoy 3 ft below the ice.
the cabin lake is and has always been bog stained. but never this ungawdly bad!!!! 
could it be from the recent rains?? lake turnover??? the lack of snow and some algae bloom???
had 10 inches of good ice wherever i checked!!
Rain and and lack of snow would be my guess.
Rain did it Glenn. Ground was froze so there was a lot of run off that went right in to the lake.
Not sure there is a lot of places with a bunch of snow on top. It’s about to get real cold it will be forming ice fast.
They updated the storm that was supposed to go south of us tomorrow. Its shifted north. Up to 8 inches in southern MN and 3-5 as far north as St Cloud now.
They updated the storm that was supposed to go south of us tomorrow. Its shifted north. Up to 8 inches in southern MN and 3-5 as far north as St Cloud now.
when is this scheduled to hit us Bel?
when is this scheduled to hit us Bel?
Tomorrow morning!
– Fake Bel
Also I’m sure you’ve seen that there is bitter cold air behind it. Snow followed by very cold temps are a bad combination for road surfaces. Chemicals don’t work when its that cold and there won’t be any melting either, obviously.
^I just wish they’d stop using the chemicals completely regardless of temperature or how effective they are.
Ya I’d be fine without that crap too. I think they apply way too much salt as well.
It looks like we will be in for 6-8″ of snow here along Pool 4 with an all day gradual snowfall tomorrow. Lake Pepin is still about 95% wide open, and even with the cold air coming in behind this system won’t begin to cap until the wind dies down.
The marinas and backwater sloughs have open water to 2″ of ice most places I looked yesterday. The snow will just slow that process down even more and hide the obvious signs of questionable ice.
I’d bet by Sunday portables will be dotting the community holes here. -20 windchills won’t stop people who have yet to get on the ice by Mid January. The following weekend all the backwater spots on Pool 4 that don’t have current should be a full go.
The ice season started late, and may end early if we can’t get ice thicknesses close to normal before the next warmup. There’s safe ice most places, but I think a season starting late + thaws like are on the way for some will equate to near record ice out in places.
I’m seeing temps in the high 30s this week, and low to mid 40s next week around Pool 4 
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I’m seeing temps in the high 30s this week, and low to mid 40s next week
Yep, winter’s over. Lasted about 10 days this year.
The over abundance of stupidity this year is amazing. We have 12″ of ice on my lake. I just put my house out this weekend with the side by side. Some dumb asses pulled up and parked their truck about 10-15′ from my house. I saw a lot of trucks on the lake this weekend. Three groups of 2-3 wheel houses clumped together with trucks parked close. Freakin’ morons.
Yep, winter’s over. Lasted about 10 days this year.
Other than the need for water (snow), that’s awesome. I wish all winters were this mild up here.
The over abundance of stupidity this year is amazing. We have 12″ of ice on my lake. I just put my house out this weekend with the side by side. Some dumb asses pulled up and parked their truck about 10-15′ from my house. I saw a lot of trucks on the lake this weekend. Three groups of 2-3 wheel houses clumped together with trucks parked close. Freakin’ morons.
We had trucks by us on 9 to 11 inches.
We had trucks by us on 9 to 11 inches.
Other than the need for water (snow), that’s awesome. I wish all winters were this mild up here.
The big storms have all gone south of us. An El Nino pattern tends to do that, while funneling in more mild Pacific Air to the north.
The 2023-2024 season snowfall total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport stands at just 7.3 inches. Madison, Wisconsin has received a whopping 29.3 inches of snow so far this snow season.
There’s more snow on the ground in Tennessee than there is here. Way more.
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