Open water, Any ramps have open water?☺️?‍♂️

Given the weather ??I was wondering if any boat ramps near Kepenfelt bay are open water?

Given the weather? December has been mostly on the cold side.. a few days of 4 C here an there aside, that's not exactly mild... Lake is starting to freeze up I think, and the harbours and launches are probably all solid frozen now..

This post has been edited by Siwash on Dec 21, 2024 - 08:59 am

The launches in Barrie and the bay is wide open,I just spoke to a buddy of mine that went by there yesterday...

hmmmm.....don't know where you get your info from, but December has been 12 degrees above normal so far this year


except maybe today and tomorrow

Average temps for most of Dec for Barrie are around low single digits.. +2 in early Dec, now about -1 or so. The average temp for December overall is 0 C. These are historic temp averages. People have weather amnesia. They also think our climate is a lot colder than it actually is. If you want cold got to go further north. -20 temps are or colder happen but they aren't average temps.

The early part of the month was cold (starting in late Nov). Now its frigid. The average will probably be close to the norm by the end of the month.

Cooks bay will have a nice layer of ice this morning.. mind you it is still unsafe.

This week is not going to be mild according to the forecast. -2 to 0

The data is out there.. I don't have the Barrie temps average on hand (I'll dig it up), but for reference, here is the Owen Sound temp average over the past 150 years:

Owen Sound

Lake was wide open yesterday only ice I know of is the southern end of cooks Bay. Even vb was open right to shore on Friday.

This morning could be a different story winds calmed down.

Thank you for putting up the chart. But what your chart does not show are the early cold snaps that create the ice. And it's not the average day time temperatures that maintain the ice. It's the average night time temperatures combined that maintain the ice. If a person was to start at last year 2024 and go back every year 150 to 200 years ago, they would see that in late December there was early, good, safe ice to fish on 50% of the time. The other 50% of those years, the ice was not safe until later in each new year accordingly. It's the opposite with ice out in March. The day time temperatures contribute more to the deterioration of ice. And the night time temperatures are not cold enough to repair the damage caused by the melting. I don't think anyone has weather amnesia, and you don't need to go further north to have good ice fishing at Christmas and to start off the new year. You just need some good luck, an early cold snap, and colder clear nights. Sometimes you get lucky with early ice, sometimes you don't. It's always been approximately a 50% chance in the Lake Simcoe area. From Owen Sound to Orillia to the Kawarthas and over to Brockville, it's all timing when the ice shows up along those latitudes. Some years there are people ice fishing in Orillia and some still in boats in Keswick on the same day. LOL.