Elk River Ice

Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Worst I have seen since January 2004, when it took out the end of my dock.
We have another week to go, so I'm fearing the worse. It will all depend on what the wind and tidal flow does when the ice begins to break up. The first pic is the very top of Red#24 shown pushed over.This was taken at ~1mile using the Digi Scope technique, (putting a camera up to the lens of a spotting scope).
Hope others will fare well when things start to come apart.
 

Attachments

Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Isn't that in MN? Why do you say only one week to go? I don't get it.
 
Mar 20, 2007
500
Catalina 355 Kilmarnock, VA
That's the Elk River in Maryland (Northern Chesapeake). Looks pretty grim.
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Yea, Elk River MD, the big ships come thru and jumble up the ice. It starts piling up into big mounds that become grounded, when the tide get high enough and they start melting than they are on the move causing major damage to anything in their way.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Elk River Maryland. I thought I was looking at a pic from Minnesota. Pretty frozen there.
We don't have so much ice yet - maybe its been too windy. The creeks have some but given the temps and the amount of time its been cold I'm looking for some ice on the bays! That'll be time to get the camera out.
 
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Isn't that in MN? Why do you say only one week to go? I don't get it.
Temps in the area of the Northern Chesapeake aren't supposed to get above freezing until Friday, with a forecasted high of 34º. Saturday 38º and then Sunday 41º

It's similar in SE PA. Today our high was in the mid-20s, and I went snowshoeing at Lake Nockamixon near Quakertown. Tomorrow will be a high of 35º. Yesterday, the forecast for Tuesday was saying a high of 5º, but that's been revised upwards to 15º.

Nockamixon is frozen over, but about 2-3" of snow has made a crust over maybe 2" of actual ice, so the ice is not thickening, even in the cold. So, yeah, it probably was not a good idea for me to be WALKING on the lake today, but, hey, that ice fisherman was out there, and that's where I saw the thickness. :eek: I didn't hear any creaking when I walked out on it, and the snowshoes helped distribute my weight a little bit :D

Brian
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
So once there's snow on the ice it doesn't freeze underneath very much unless, I guess, its really f*ing cold?
Our high was about 22 today - not that different. It is the same air mass. That was with a SW wind - gusts in the 30's. So there isn't so much warm air around.
Still as long as its going to be cold, I'd like to see some more ice. We do have some seals around.
 
Sep 29, 2008
1,928
Catalina 310 #185 Quantico
The Potomac is about frozen over across

Thus sucks! I am ready for spring.
 

Piotr

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Dec 6, 2010
848
MacGregor 25 Rock Hall, MD
LOL. I pass that dock twice a year - in the spring going down to Rock Hall and in the fall going up to harbor North marina. On the way, I pass Worton. I agree - it's coldest since 2004. Before then it was 1998, I believe. Way back in the halcyon days when people believed in man-made global warming (I think it's climate change now, so we can be alarmists whether it's cold or hot), I left my boat in water through winter. The latest I sailed was December and the earliest March. But the boat was beat to heck, so I haven't done that yet. I'm glad I didn't...
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Worton sure has funny looking ducks!
Had some break up yesterday on the Elk, but fortunately the NW wind pushed it all to the other side. Back up frozen again today, except out at the channel where the ice flows are hammering the buoys. Anyone that did not pull their mooring will have a tough time finding it in the spring.
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis


Why, back when I was a boy we didn't need no Rt. 50 bridge to get to Eastern Shore, Maryland...we walked. THIS is why you haul your boat.
1977
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
I thought the big snow storm/freeze winter was '78-'79?

If so, I was only 9 or 10 anyway, so I can't remember WHEN it was, though I remember lots of snow, very cold, and digging snow tunnels through drifts…

Brian

Not mine. Taken by Bob Griesner, for the Baltimore Sun. You can see more here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/bal-bs-md-bay-freeze-ber20110107150252,0,6977711.photo

That was the year damn near all the bay froze, the whole way down to Tangier Island. When the ice broke up it piled up 4 stories high on the lee shore.