Northeast kingdom weather report. 2/17

[Evan Perkins]

     I’m just writing to let folks know what happened with the weather at least in my general area. The cold came in fast this afternoon with very little snow. So my local lake Harveys lake looked like it was resurfaced quite well and already had snow blowing across it when I passed at around, 3 o’clock there still were some puddles out there , and with the wind they might not freeze till later and may cause issues with sandwich ice if they don’t freeze till later tonight, but the bulk of the surface looks like it could be skated tomorrow. There may be many other locations up here with similar situation’s  including lake Willoughby etc .

     This is not a report on ice thickness just to let folks know that I think some skate worthy surfaces will survive and be improved by this latest event.

      On a safety note, there is a lot of ice out there that has been severely degraded by the multiple freeze thaw Events that we have had. I would be, particularly wary of black ice, especially when it is above freezing I’m sure in some places there has been some significant degradation of the cell walls. This presents a very dangerous situation of a ice sheets coming apart when people are on them (even when 4-5”thick)and then people not being able to get out because none of the ice is supportable. so for the time being, probably best to be skating below freezing. Also, any areas affected by under thinning through current or wave action should also be tested very carefully. In the spring ice conditions are margins for ice thickness should be much higher than in new ice conditions. take care, Evan.

[Evan Perkins]

Hi Kitty, yes, I am referring to that honeycomb pattern you were seeing. It has many stages and just because you see that on ice does not mean that the ice is degraded enough to be unsafe. It just means it’s time to take a second look, and also to pay attention to temperature outside. When it’s below freezing degraded ice can retain a lot of its strength maybe being 60 or 70% of what really solid ice is in terms of strength. When it’s above freezing, it can drop to 20% or less depending on how far the crystal cell walls are degraded(this means to be safe instead of having 2 inches as a bare minimum on good clear black ice, you would want this ice to be 10 inches thick )surface texture can be helpful to help you decide whether the honeycomb ice you’re looking at is degraded. Generally, if it has gone through many freeze thaw cycles, it will have what’s called crows feet which are eroded depressions on the edges of the crystal walls. however, sometimes in an event, like we just had where ice is resurfaced, it can be smooth out , and not show the signs of degradation . The key thing for safety is just to pay attention to the temperature outside and not be skating above freezing if you’re questioning ice integrity. Also, as I stated above, just make sure the ice is much thicker than you would normally want it if it was new black ice .

[Jamie Leopold]

Evan makes some very good points about ice that has been through several freeze/thaw cycles and it’s compromised structural integrity, thanks Evan.

It has been referenced here before, but it’s good to repeat: For more (a lot more) information about almost everything to do with ice, it’s a good idea to check out Bob Dill’s extremely informative website on ice: http://lakeice.squarespace.com

Have fun and

Smile,

Jamie