Jefferson Ridpath: April 2013 Archives

According to reliable sources on Canoe Lake the ice went out yesterday - April 29th, 2013 - which is a great date for two reasons: it's my niece B's birthday (and she loves the cottage), and our winner this year is my wonderful wife, Debbie Ridpath Ohi!

Congrats also to: Steve Soloduka, Hugh Statten, Lorne Wilkinson, Dick Erickson.

Here are two photos from Roy Stewart taken from his point looking north two days ago.

Canoe Lake, looking north from Stewart's point
Sunday, April 28th, 2013

Canoe Lake, Stewart's point under water!
Sunday, April 28th, 2013

Looks like ice-out is underway. I got the following email from Canoe Laker Charlie Plant yesterday:

"Well here I sit, hoping to be on the lake for a fourth year in a row when the ice goes out but I don't think I'll make it. There are open patches of water on Tea Lake and Smoke is dark black, ready to go out any day but Canoe may be a day behind those two. The water level is very high ... and there are massive cracks in the ice and water at the shore. The ice has disintegrated and all it needs is a lot of wind, rain or sun to disappear. As we won't have enough of any of those for a while, it will be a few days yet but this week for sure."

And the official Algonquin Park Ice Out Conditions page said today that they expect ice out in the next 5-10 days. Head on over to the site for details, including some great arial photos.

No, that's not a euphemism, it's what I did today at home in Toronto.

Here's a photo of the Portage Store bay on Canoe lake just 4 days ago (from the Friends of Algonquin Park Facebook page).

Canoe Lake, looking north westthe P-Store beach
Sunday, April 7th, 2013. Photo by the Friends of Algonquin Park.

I have finally combed through my email and posted the first batch of votes, 66 in total.

Looks like we've got a most popular date: Thursday, May 2nd. More than 50% of people so far think the ice will go out during the 7 days from April 26th through May 2nd; and 90% think it will be out by at least May 3rd.

I heard from two Canoe Lakers who were up on Easter weekend (just 7 days ago!) and reported between 25" and 30" of solid ice; and it was something like -13°C on Tuesday night.

I'm going with May 8th, mostly for posterity ;-)