Category Archives: Ice In

New Google Earth Imagery Available

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Google Earth has uploaded new imagery for this area (above and at left) dated March 18th 2025 which if you’ll recall was only 3 days after I closed the 2025 ice out contest. In other words, the current Google Earth view shows an ice-covered Clary Lake with a level of detail that is just astounding. The lake level was actually 0.3′ above the normal HWM on this date or in other words, FULL. This late in the season, there was open water along the shoreline on the north side of the lake (this area get more sunlight than along the south shore). I particularly like the set of wheel tracks that lead in a straight line from the State boat launch to a point just a couple of hundred feet from the lake’s “deep hole” where an ice fishing shack was setup for much of the winter. You can also see a couple of pressure ridges (see Ice Berms & Pressure Ridges) in the traditional places, open water over the shallow sand bar down by the boat launch, and more!

This new imagery is only available on the desktop version of Google Earth Pro, which is free software (go download it!) The browser version and the Android and iPhone apps do not have this new imagery.

New Ice-In Date Ahead

Five days ago the lake was frozen solid. Two days later it rained heavily and the temperature rose to 50° needless to say, the ice didn’t last long. Normally we call ice-in when the meteorological conditions exist to allow the lake to freeze completely. We revise that date when the meteorological conditions exist to melt off the ice just a few days later! We’ll be revising the ice-in date when the lake finally freezes over again; the weather forecast is for single digit temperatures this weekend so it probably won’t be long.

Official Clary Lake Ice-In Date: December 15, 2024

After several false starts, the meteorological conditions necessary to freeze up the lake have finally occurred though it remains to be seen if the ice survives the rain and 50° temperature forecast for next Tuesday. Our ice-in and ice-out records go back to 2001 and for what it’s worth, today, December 15th, is the average ice-in date. There were 282 days in 2024 without ice on the lake, considerably more than the average of 254 ice-free days. Gorgeous looking ice, but I’d let it thicken before venturing out on it!

While 23 years really isn’t a long enough period of time for meaningful climate data analysis, a look at the above chart shows clears trends developing for later ice-in and earlier ice-out dates. However, the yellow line showing days between ice-in and ice-out picks up days on both ends and there’s no uncertainty at all in how that statistic is trending.

UPDATED: 7 December 2023: Clary Lake Is (ALMOST) Iced In!

ice-in-12-7-2023[UPDATE NO. 2] I did get out this morning and can confirm the lake is solidly frozen end to end and side to side. I suspect the open water I saw yesterday over by Duncan Road was due to seepage of 48° groundwater into the lake, it being enough to ward off freezing until last night’s single digit temps. Whether the ice survives next Monday’s warm rainstorm remains to be seen but for now, as of 8 December 2023, Clary Lake is officially frozen over.

[UPDATE] I’m sorry I didn’t go check the lake sooner or I’d have held off on posting this so-called news! There’s a small expanse of open water along the shoreline over in the cove by Duncan Road in front of the French, Vincentsen, and Duncan camps. So while the lake is 99.9999999% frozen over, it’s not 100% frozen over and the meteorological conditions necessary for ice-in have not been met. I’m calling it Almost Ice-in.

An overnight temperature of 9° degrees was enough for Clary Lake to completely freeze over. I’ve only checked the webcams so far, I’ll take a drive around the lake in a while and confirm it is completely frozen over and if it is, I will record today as the initial ice-in date. In any case, I wouldn’t venture out there on foot just yet! Give it a couple of more days and then tentatively test the thickness in various spots. You want a solid 3 inches to walk or skate on. Don’t be foolish.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if it opens up again before finally freezing over for the winter: it is supposed to warm up this weekend and Sunday through Monday a large warm weather system is going to blow through with strong southerly winds and heavy rains. It’s unlikely the ice we see today will survive that.

04 December 2023: First Snow at Clary Lake

I woke up this morning to the first snow this fall on Clary Lake, and a short power outage, offering me an opportunity to test my generator (it worked fine). It sure looks like winter out there, but it’s pretty warm out. I expect this 2+” of new snow will not last. The lake is still open but there has been ice in the coves off and on this past week so it’s clearly getting ready. We’re just waiting for some sustained cold weather for it to freeze up once and for all. It’s going down into the low teens for a few days this week so there’s a good chance the lake will skim over if it remains calm overnight, but I think a solid freeze up is still a few weeks off. Now is the time to think about getting your skates sharpened and the ice boat ready! When there is ice suitable for skating or ice boating, you best be ready to go because it usually doesn’t last long before snow makes an appearance. Continue reading →