Rain – good, bad, doesn’t matter?

It’s raining up in the north metro pretty hard. What does that mean for lake ice?

Melts or gets VERY slick if it remains….how much ice do you guys have up that way? We were just starting to freeze around here on the small lakes in south/central WI until last night.

Its good weight of 12 inches of snow is gone now is going to get colder this week all this water should freeze into good ice soon. ice veries alot some lakes open water some have 2-4 inches be very carefull out there!

I’m thinking rain is better than snow. At least water on the ice will freeze. Snow would make slush and insulate the ice. Slush doesn’t make good ice.

Best thing that could happen! Now the snow on the ice has no insulating value as it freezes from the fluff to solid after the rain ends and the cold comes along. It is cold enough so there will be no noticable ice loss. No gain either obviously, at these temps, but in the end, it is the best thing that could happen with all the snow on the ice in many places.

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Melts or gets VERY slick if it remains….how much ice do you guys have up that way? We were just starting to freeze around here on the small lakes in south/central WI until last night.

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Bald Eagle had about 4″ 500-600 ft out, the spud went through after that.

We only had 3 inches on the lake I live near here in the Aitkin area. It is currently raining, now turning to slush/snow. Not going to help the lake at all. Just read the Red Door post. That one sounds what more likely will happen. I like that one.

I wonder if ice freezing on top of the ice bonds as well as ice freezing at the base?

This rain could make the ice unpredictable. Some lakes it might help, others it might hurt, depending on how the ice was before the rain.

I say unpredictable because the rain won’t sit on the ice evenly. Most likely it will flow and collect in certain areas. Obviously then another big factor is how much you get and in what period of time.

Looking at Accuweathers forecast, unless I make it up to Grand Rapids, I won’t even think about ice fishing until after Christmas.