It's that time of year again !
The last of the lake ice, once again huddled in Miners Bay and remnants today were found piling into Pine Ridge Bay.
Pretty much the average ice out time, generally April 15-22. (Last year was the 8th)
This past winter was a little cooler than last. January had a low of -35C on the 29th, but once again no -40's. The lake froze over on January 3rd, which is now becoming commonly late compared to the 'good old days' of mid December. The first snow that stayed was December 4th. Many years ago it was early November. The last snow we got that didn't melt when it hit the ground was March 11th. Overall 61 inches of snow required being removed from our drives and walkways. (68 inches last year).
We did get more ice thickness this year, test holes in various parts of the lake all came up with the same 20 inches, considerably more than the last few years, but still, 20 years ago 30-40 inches was the norm!
Annoyingly, the power outages up here are only increasing with the more we pay ! This winter we had outages from December 11-14 (nasty), February 2-4, and March 9th for 2 hours. No running water or furnace in the winter kinda sucks !
This year’s Sugar Island Ice Out Winners are Al and Shelly ! Congrats !
The pics: April 12 Looking out from Deep Bay, April 14 towards the diving rocks, Miners Bay on right, April 15 Pine Ridge Bay.
Hope everyone is well and we will see you on the lake !
Doug Thompson, Deep Bay
