How fast can a lake freeze over?

Rick Kyte

Rick Kyte

Well-known member
Heard this story from my brother, who claims he got it from the two guys it happened to. I'm skeptical; he's convinced it's true. We probably won't ever settle whether it actually did happened, but I'm wondering whether it COULD happen.

The story: A few years back two guys were hunting divers during the late seasion on Pelican Lake in northern Minnesota. It had been well below freezing and windy for several days before the hunt. The morning of the hunt it was windy and close to zero. They had to break some ice with their 14ft aluminum boat to get out to open water, then made their way to an island. They hunted a couple of hours, then the wind began to die down and they noticed most of the lake covered with a floating icy slush. One of the guys suggested they get back to the landing quick. So they got in the boat and started motoring through the slush. About half way back to the landing the boat wouldn't go any further, the slush was starting to set up and they were stuck. They had no cell phone, so they just sat and tried to figure out what to do. After about an hour they tested the ice. It was hard and thick enough to hold their weight. They got out of the boat and walked back to the landing.


What do you guys think? Is something like this even possible? I've seen ice form quickly while out hunting, and I've been worried a couple of times about being able to break back through the same channel I came out on, but I've never seen ice form quickly enough to hold a person's weight in just a few hours time.

Rick
 
That sounds a bit quick. A lake will freeze over enough to walk on over night but in an hour or two at zero degrees doesn't sound right. Even out ice fishing in zero temps a hole will get maybe a half an inch in say 4-6 hours.
 
The water doesn't turn to slush before it freezes either, it turns slushy when melting. I call BS on this one
 
I cant say for sure but I can tell what I saw down here on the Gulf Coast one morning about 5-6 years ago:
It was late December and cold as heck for down here, about 25 degrees and light wind. At about 7:00, just as the sun was starting to come over the trees, the wind died, I mean flat calm.
In a matter of minutes, the bay were were in (slightly brackish water ) skimmed over with ice. Within 20 minutes it was thick enough that ducks were landing, going through as they touched down but then getting up & walking around on thei ce. A nice drake gadwall did this about 50 yards out & I bowled him over as he walked torwards the decoys. 15 more minutes later, when we motored over to get him & some other birds, there was at least a 1/2" to 1" of ice on the water. So in less than an hour, we had an inch of ice form on brackish water.
And a pile of ducks to boot. We had two limits of gaddies by 7:15. Birds came in in flocks of 6-20+, which is rare for us.
It never got above freezing that day, which is highly unusual down here. Another front came through two days later and it was 18 that morning. Same sort of thing & we had another hell of a hunt. We were covered up with ducks for the rest of the season after those fronts came through!

Now with was at 25 degrees air temp & in brackish water that was probably well above freezing the day before. If we could see an inch of ice that quick under these conditions, then I imaging that ice could form even quicker up north where the water is fresh and much colder on a daily basis.
 
Wonder if the wind blew in broken up ice from another part of the bay?
 
Rick:
It kind of happened exactly the same way, except the we didn't get out and walk on the ice, we pushed through it. Although, I fully expected to see some icefisherman headed our way with a spud.

Early dark thirty we motored out into the bay (St. Clair Flats) through icy thick slush, not a problem, we expected it to warm up as the sun came out (bad idea). The farther out into the bay the thicker the slush and then it started to be thin ice. Stopped at a small island and set up in a nice open pocket. Shooting time comes and the bottom drops out of the temperature thingy, ice started building on anything wet. I tell my buddies to get the decoys NOW!!! We throw everything into the boat and head back in, breaking heavy ice all the way until it blew the hub. We hop out of the boat and start pushing, the boat and breaking through 1"-2" of ice all of that was sliding under the boat and hitting out legs and shins. All of the slush of the morning had solidified. My buddies were laughing and kidding. Me, I was worried, I kept looking for the CG helicopter, I didn't want to lose my rig!

Looking back, it could have been a very dangerous situation.

PS: I'll say that the ice was not clear hard ice. It was elastic, but certainly solid enough to break into 2-3 sq.ft. sheets to slide under the boat.
 
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Rick,

I'd have to say that the truth is somewhere between the story being 100% accurate and 100% totally false.

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They had to break some ice with their 14ft aluminum boat to get out to open water, then made their way to an island.
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My question would be just how far out did they have to break ice, how thick was it and did they try walking on it at that time? I've broke ice with my boat that I've also been able to walk on.
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[/font] [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]About half way back to the landing the boat wouldn't go any further, the slush was starting to set up and they were stuck.[/font]
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[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]I've gotten stuck in slush ice and slush snow while on the water so this is no surprise. I do question if they had reached the shelf of ice that was there earlier in the day.

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[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]After about an hour they tested the ice. It was hard and thick enough to hold their weight. They got out of the boat and walked back to the landing.[/font]
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If they had reached the edge of the previous shelf ice, then yes, I can see where they could have walked on it as per my comment above.

To answer your question directly; Given no wind with temps in low single digits, I've seen 3/4 inch over night. Add another 12 hours to that and you could have 1 1/4 inches which can support one man as long as he keeps moving at a walking pace. I've run a trap line on an 1 1/4 inch ice and moved from muskrat mound to muskrat mound with out breaking thru. Other side of that coin is, if you do break thru it is real tough to get back on top of the ice because the edge is not supported like an unbroken sheet of ice.
 
Some interesting responses. Dave--you may be right that it's 1/2 true and 1/2 false--that they got back to the shelf ice and then walked out. The problem with that answer is, it won't settle which one of us has to buy the beer for our Christmas ice fishing trip.

Rick
 
I could see them having trouble with an area of ice they had to break on the way in but if it was open I can't see it freezing enough for them to walk on in a couple hours. It probably could happen from morning to evening if cold enough but you would have to be really dense not to notice how cold it is. Also if the wind died down you won't see much slush on a lake, it forms a smooth skim on fresh somewhat still water. I have seen thick slush on a lake, it was very windy and had it calmed down I bet you could have walked on it in minutes... but it was all pushed up within 30 feet of shore.
I suppose someone could get stuck out away from shore but I don't see them walking on ice only a couple hours old without going through.

Tim
 
I believe the story. I have a tradition where I hunt the last day of the duck season no matter what and have experienced all sorts of weird stuff. One year we were going to hunt some small islands about 10 miles or so south of St. Paul. The place we wanted to put in was frozen. The only spot open had a dam between the landing and the hunting spot. Whould have seen the look on the guys face as a 12' alumacraft pulls into the lock to get upstream. Anyway, we went through some slush ice on the river and did hit some ice flows. We huntedon the upstream side of an island for about 4 hours. Came time to leave and the slush ice had "melded" together making it so tough to get out we decided to take an immediate right, beach the boat and then walk to the car. we came back the next day to get the boat.

Also have gone out in the morning and broke ice to get to the spot. After hunting a long monring, the spot broken through had iced over again. Once again. wlked the boat sideways, beached it, and then came back and got the boat later. You would think I would learn.

Of coarse, these are very cold days. Last year the last day of hunting it was -11. That is beer freezing cold. So anyway, long story short, I believe the story.

Mark W
 
Yeah, I'm not going to say that every single detail is dead on, minute for minute and inch by inch, but for the most part, I'd definitely believe the story is more true than false.

Think of it this way - the water was more than cold enough to freeze while the wind was blowing, so it had a "head start" and made ice real quick once the wind died. The other responses mirror my thoughts, so I won't repeat.

I will add that while I was in SoDak the last week of October we had temps in the teens at night and around 60 during the day - the biggest lake in our area was freezing 85-90% over night and then opening up all the way around noon for 3 days straight.

NR
 
My take on it, It is possible. First the broke ice to get there how much 1/2" 3/4" 1" ? A the temperature of 0 degrees Old timers told me 1" per hour. I can not verify that. Once the wind stopped It was possibly colder than O degrees. Their staying in the boat longer than a hour and getting to the shelf ice.
Any way this is the reason they should of had a BBSB with ice runners and a sail. Then they could of had there boat with them and not risked there life. Oh ya there there wasn't any wind. pushing the boat across the ice would have been safer.
 
I have been out on lake saint clair here in MI and several times had no ice when we launched and had to brake 1/2 mile of ice to get back in. I once had to have some one drive the truck and trailer to another launch as in three hours of hunting the launch froze so hard we could not break it.
 
Well look at it this way. I broke ice going out, had a open spot for about 3 hours, and wached the lake make ice, the decoys were froze in place. Busted the decoys out of the ice, loaded up and broke 3/4" - 1" of ice going out. 2 guys and a dog in my AA widgeon.

2 guys in a metal boat, either had a lousy motor, and no paddles or oars. Sounds like a baloney story to me.
 
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