Ice-Out is declared on Lake Winnipesaukee

LACONIA — In a sign that spring has arrived in earnest, Ice-Out on Lake Winnipesaukee was formally declared Monday morning.

The occasion occurred at 8:59 a.m. after the frozen surface broke up at Center Harbor, according to Dave Emerson, who has been monitoring the annual event for more than 40 years.

“There was a large area of ice between Middle Beaver, Three-Mile, and Black Cat islands that broke up and submerged when the wind began to pick up this morning,” said Emerson, a pilot who owns Emerson Aviation.

Emerson took to the air shortly after 8 a.m. Monday to survey what ice was left.

Later Monday morning he said there was still some ice on Loon Cove and on the north side of Stonedam Island, but that would not impede the MS Mount Washington on its normal route around the state’s largest lake.

Ice-Out is defined as the time when 1,250-passenger excursion vessel can safely navigate between its ports of call of Weirs Beach, Meredith, Center Harbor, Wolfeboro and Alton Bay.

The latest Ice-Out ever declared was May 12, which occurred in 1888, Emerson said.

The earliest Ice-Out was March 19, 2016. Last year, Ice-Out was declared on April 24.

“But it’s not unusual for it to go out around this date,” Emerson said. Other Ice-Outs that have occurred on or about April 6 were in 1910, 1991, 1998, 1999, and 2000, he said.