Something to think about......

[Shawnny B]

Well I was on my way home from work enjoying all the wonderful traffic traveling along in this snow I started thinking about Icefishing on Saturday, I also thought of the comments about how this snow is doing alot of bad, and i started to wonder what the heck the R value of snow would be. I know that people have made Snow-gloo's and have been able to sleep in them and not freeze by just using their body heat to keep it warm in there I think I even saw on some channel like TLC or something on that nature that they got one up to 70 inside. So yeah this will slow down the ice making but, wouldnt it also help it stay cooler? I mean if we stay below freezing for awhile and then it has a day that goes up, woudlnt it just continue making ice? Anyhow I was just wondering trying to figure out what I was going to post for my 100 but i already blew that so I guess this is posint 101 Only other comment i have is Just be carefull out there, im seeing alot of snowmobiles and 4 wheelers ripping across the lakes, remember its not your personal freeway out there there just may be a kid playing in that snow and you might not notice them untill the last minute.

shawnny b

[Wables]

Nope, the snow will keep it from making ice. The thermal energy needs to be pulled from the liquid water to the air in order to make ice. Snow slows this down. However, on a warm day, the extra insulation will keep from melting the ice. Unfortunately you end up with slush.

[CrappieJohn]

The snow does insulate, but to what degree does it actually hinder ice making will involve a lot of things.

Moisture content of the snow, depth of the snow, air temperature, ice thickness are but some of these factors.

Remember that ice grows downward. If you put wet snow/slush on top of a coat of ice, the sheet can flex enough to allow water to come onto it from the sides. All of this has to re-freeze hard enough to continue into the original layer of ice. If the air temps allow it to freeze for a prolonged period of time, you will eventually find the ice as one continuous sheet as long as the ice thickness is still quite thin....say 3 or 4 inches. You will though have to have some serious cold to get the job done.

Slushy or wet topside ice never gives you good ice. If it isn't clear, I don't give it much trust and ice that has slush setting on it is a down right mess to fish on. In past years I have fished on ice that has had two distinct layers of slush/water on top of otherwise decent ice and when there shold have been upwards of twentyfive or thirty inches there was a mere 14 to 18. And this was during prolonged very cold weather. Ironically, the best ice to be found then was found in vacated holes.

You bet that snow plays a role in ice developement.

[kirkatholomew]

I was curious enough yesterday to check the R value of snow online. I found it to be R-1 per inch of snow. I haven't a clue how this number was figured out as there are so many different "types" of snow; fluffy, heavy, etc.

It's amazing that such a small amount of snow hampered ice formation even when the temps were below zero last week.