Ice Out - 2009

Our weather in St. Joseph, Mo., just can't seem to make up its mind whether its winter or spring. Last Wednesday, people were playing golf on a 67 degree day. Yesterday, we received 5-6" of snow, had an overnight low of 9, and a high today of under 20. The forecast is for temps in the low 60s by Wednesday or Thursday. With crazy weather like that, what does a guy's mind turn to but wondering when the ice will be gone from Witch Bay?

With the prelude out of the way, let's get right with the program - Ice Out, 2009 style. The rules are really simple: reply to this thread with your guess of the date and time of day, like April 7th, 3:27 a.m. The person with the guess that is closest to the date and time of the actual ice out, as determined by Gail, wins.

Don't be shy; give it a try. Guesses must be received by midnight April 15 as logged by this message board system. To avoid any confusion, that cutoff date and time are irrefutable, irrevocable, unequivocable or any other -able you can think of. (Did I just dangle my participle?) Good luck to one and all.

Last year I did lots of research, plug all of the variables into the NASA computers to provide the most accurate estimate possible, and still didn't win. So, this year I'm back to just guessing. May 3rd at 1:30 p.m.

I am looking for an earlier ice out than Dave B. I think April 30 at 1 p.m. will be the correct date and time this year. Hope I am closer to being right than I was last year.
Looking forward to fishing up there again this summer.
Puma

We were out Crappie fishing this morning. The ice on the smaller lakes is wet but still good, the shores around my place on Lake of the Woods is getting bad, cant get out safely anymore but guys are still driving their quads everywhere from the landings. Very nice weather ahead and rain showers in the forecast will be the end of my ice season, looking forward to my first cast off the dock at camp.

May 2nd 10:00am

Ice Out will be May 5, at 5:00 PM.
A cold snap in late April will delay it this year.
pfessor

My prediction is May 4th at 1:45pm.