Very early and very cold temperatures froze the big lake on December 2, about a week after Little Lac des Roches froze. For a few days, there were large patches of open water which gave residents quite a sight. Since the open water was much warmer than the air temperature, a huge amount of vapour was blown off the water by strong winds which coated everything in its path with thick frost. The sight of tall grasses and thin tree branches wrapped with a layer – several inches thick – of frost and doubled over by the weight, was astounding. No sooner had residents dusted off their skates and some had even been out and cleared the snow and frost from the ice, when the weather made a dramatic change and the night time lows of -25 C were replaced with several nights of above zero temperatures accompanied by warm, strong and persistent winds. The delicate ice in the middle of Lac des Roches was no match for mother nature and it has been disappearing ever since. The volunteer lake monitors are in quite a quandary. Never before have they recorded “ice on” followed by “ice off” in the same year…much less the same month. While we have lost much of our snow to the same mild temperatures, the lower temperatures forecasted for mid to late December could see the lake refreezing in time for winter play during the Christmas holidays…maybe. If not, perhaps this will be a good year to receive a kayak or other personal water craft for Christmas as there may likely be open water where a boat could actually be used instead of just looked at and sat in for the next 4 months. Stay tuned for ice condition updates.
