After an earlier than normal arrival of spring, the ice on Upper Saranac Lake is now out. Other water-bodies in the watershed, such as Hoel Pond, still have ice.
This year, the ice is out earlier than normal- the 5th earliest on record. The earliest recorded ice out was on March 24, 2012 and latest in 2018 on May 2nd. For a complete history of ice-in and ice-out records, visit the Upper Saranac Foundation’s Web page at: https://usfoundation.net/programs/ice-in-ice-out/
Known ice-out records have been monitored for Upper Saranac Lake since 1998. Since 2012, the Upper Saranac Foundation has taken up the maintenance of these records and has added ice-in and ice-out duration statistics. These records help in our ongoing work to study and understand changes occurring to Upper Saranac Lake watershed.
The duration of ice on USL for this season lasted 113 days, beginning December 16, 2019 and concluding on April 6, 2020. While USL’s ice duration records are very limited, nearby lakes such as Mirror Lake have records dating back as far as 1903. Their records indicate a significant reduction in the duration of ice cover over time, with current ice cover on average 26 days shorter than it was in 1903. Mirror Lakes mean duration of ice cover over the entire record is 139 days. The mean duration since 2000 is 122 days.