How long before we have solid ice on Cape Cod?

sailingjoe · Joined: 06 Aug 2008 Posts: 1087

How many days of below freezing temps before things are safe?

greyghost · Joined: 06 Oct 2015 Posts: 151

it's going to be a long time.
up here in Worcester where we average probably 5-8 degrees colder, none of the ponds/lakes are frozen over. It's not even close, maybe a thin layer but only on certain sections. Weather forecast is pretty warm for the next week.
I'd think you'll be lucky if it's at the end of January....crazy.

WaterKook · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:00 am Post subject:

Not going to happen this year. Sorry. Smile

iceratz@comcast.net · Joined: 16 Feb 2009 Posts: 346

Actually, according to this guy, winter is going to set in big time!

http://ryanhanrahan.wordpress.com/

Besides all the techno-babble , he eventually says, "Winter lovers rejoice! This will effectively dislodge the polar vortex and the cold from the Arctic and send it south."

..but ice is never 'safe'.... Wink

sailingjoe · Joined: 06 Aug 2008 Posts: 1087

There's ice on the ponds and bogs hereabouts (Falmouth) albeit thin and wet ice. However, the temps are going to drop seriously today and wind up in the teens overnight. A week of this might lead to a surface that can hold a man. Nevertheless, I have heard snow predictions.

iceratz@comcast.net · Joined: 16 Feb 2009 Posts: 346

Word to the wise....no new ice has ever been sailed on the Cape after Jan 31st.....so if its not formed by then...its not gonna! Sad

But the ice sailing season continues off-Cape with the first lake in Mass sailed last weekend. Most of the sailable ice will occur in NH VT & Maine this year.
I got my eyes on Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, it may have survived this last rain, only to get some snow this weekend.

Current site being sailed is Lake Attitash, Merrimac MA.

Believe in Global warming! Rolling Eyes

sailingjoe · Joined: 06 Aug 2008 Posts: 1087

Lake Attitash, hmmm. Is it solid enough now? Actually, all the ice I saw earlier in the week had melted by yesterday afternoon. However, I think it is starting to form again as I type.

ron.c · Joined: 30 Oct 2004 Posts: 1460

Here's a quote "Word to the wise....no new ice has ever been sailed on the Cape after Jan 31st.....so if its not formed by then...its not gonna!"

My kid care duties took me by Harwich / Brewster's Long Pond Yesterday. Long and Seymour(?) had no visable ice - AT ALL!

I think you Cape Ice guys are SOL for this season noting another week of above freezing temps ahead.

Tuesday might even be in the cards for plain old saling.

iceratz@comcast.net · Joined: 16 Feb 2009 Posts: 346

Only S**t out of luck on the Cape!
Lots of ice to the north in NH, Maine and VT.

Any ice sailor worth thier salt will understand the variying conditions that occur each year, fluctuations between regions north and southern New England. Last year all regions in the north got completely shut out due to excessive snow. This year they got lots of clear ice ( or minimal snow that will recover to clear ice)

Although, in my 28 years in search of ice each season, this year has been challanging. Global warming is certianly a major factor. Going back to the 80's, most of New England, including the Cape would get snowed out. New Jersey coastline, Barnegat Bay was the place to go and was an incredible ice sailors world down there. They have IceBoat yacht clubs set up all along the region. Those days are GONE!...or very nearly so...

Going back even further to 60's, as a boy I would push around on icebergs on saltwater, crossing Salem harbor! I have not seen that place freeze since.

Now currently here on the Cape, I am seeing the same trends migrating north. Perhaps during my own life I could witness the complete disapearance of ice sailing sports!

I am sure many others can relate similar stories of how cold and extensive winters were a long time ago, and now see radical changes.

So, is global warming such a bad thing? How does this affect our windsurfing?
This past Summer here on the Cape was perhaps the worst season for SW winds, while the extended Fall into December was still an option for sailing frontal winds in relative warm waters.
Would YOU want to exchange your warm Summer SW winds for a wetsuit claded season late in the year?
Pure speculation, I'll admit. But you can't have one Winter season's of lack of 'normal' cold weather without the opposite balance of Summer's extreem warm weather affected. The days of no SW thermals might be right behind the days of no ice!

Food for thought.

sailingjoe · Joined: 06 Aug 2008 Posts: 1087

For a number of decades I have kept a newspaper clipping from the N.Y. Times that goes like this:
According to the N.Y. City Parks and Recreation Dept. for skating to be considered safe there must be a five inch thick ice surface which results from at least 5 consecutive days of temperatures below 21 F.
I also have a newspaper clipping that matches ice thickness (clear, blue lake ice) and permissible load. 2 inches will hold one person on foot, 3 inches will hold a group in single file, 7.5 inches will hold a passenger car (2 ton gross, a rather heavy car by today's standards.)
I thought you would also like to see my Ice Screw. Which I bought as a measure of thickness and a way to secure my things in one spot in a pack in the wind if I want to leave them on the ice while I am kiting. Unfortunately, I have not been able to use it.