Lake Champlain Has Officially Frozen Over

Satellite view of Lake Champlain today show
no sign of open water on the lake today, so
it has been officially declared frozen over 

 The National Weather Service in South Burlington this afternoon officially declared Lake Champlain frozen over. 

It's the first time that's happened since March 9, 2019.

The National Weather Service notes that "completely iced over" is subjective. There might still be some cracks and little fissures or holes out there that satellites, drones and airplanes didn't or can't notice.

I personally thought the lake would freeze last weekend or Monday during a cold wave that sent temperature into the upper single numbers and teens below zero.  

But there was probably a bit too much wind stirring the small areas of open water to make the lake freeze.

Overnight and early this morning, we had clear, calm weather. The temperature at Burlington reached a low of 1 above around dawn today. That weather was the charm. 

Our February 13 Lake Champlain freeze date this year is about the time it usually gets iced over. At least in the years it does freeze,

Usually, in January it hasn't been cold enough long enough for a frozen lake. In March, an increased chance of a thaw or just a higher, warmer sun angle can prevent the lake from freezing.

But there's always exceptions. The earliest freeze over was on January 8 1868 and the latest was on March 26, 1894.

I - and pretty much everybody else - are suspicious of those dates. Nobody had planes, drones or satellites back in the 19th century. So there was probably some open water way out there on both those early and late dates.  It's just nobody could see them from shore. 

No lake ice is completely safe. The broad lake is particularly risky. There's certainly areas of thin ice, cracks or weak areas cause by pressure building between areas of ice. So please don't walk from Burlington to Plattsburgh, please.  

That said, Lake Champlain has had little ice on it in recent years, so it is nice to go out onto relatively safe areas of ice to check out what has really become another world. 

In at least part due to climate change, Lake Champlain freeze overs have become much less likely. Since 2000, the lake has only frozen over nine times. In the mid 20th century, in the thirty years between 1940 and 1969, the lake froze over 20 times. 

 Lake Champlain might not stay completely frozen for long. By early next week, thawing and increasing winds could poke holes in the ice.