Ice in Puget Sound

S

seahooked

New member
I was boating with my family yesterday from Edmonds to Poulsbo and encountered about 1/2 mile of broken ice (not slush) upon entering Liberty Bay. It covered about half of the bay and appeared to extend from shore to shore.

I'm a newbie to boating in winter and am curious about how common it is to find ice in Puget Sound in this manner. The recent weather has been colder than normal for the area however the air temperature was only around freezing at the time. I would imagine that there would have to be a top layer of fresh water above the salt but where did it come from? And wouldn't the salt water (probably not much below 40 deg F if that cold) keep the fresh water from freezing? There was heavy rain and snow here a day or two before; or is the only explaination that this ice would have to float down some adjacent river? The ice chunks seemed to be consistent in size and thickness which would seem to rule out the latter.

The ice made quite a racket against the hull even at minimal speed and I was concerned about the gelcoat getting hammered; however I was able to tuck behind a large Bayliner 'icebreaker' for the journery into Poulsbo Marina. The Bayliner skipper claimed to be an old salt and was baffled as well. When we left the marina two hours later the ice was gone.

Could anyone shed light on this, other than I'm crazy?
 
Chris – haven’t you ever heard of global warming? It has been on the news for years. Doesn’t mater what kind of strange weather we are having, it is caused by global warming.

Now my theory on what you encountered.

Poulsbo is in a narrow bay with a choke point at Keyport. We have been having freezing temperatures and heavy rains or snow earlier in the week. The north end of the bay is shallow and dry at low tide. There was probably a lot of run off from the creek flowing into the bay, the tide was out, it was snowing or freezing rain that froze on the gravel bar and mud at the north end of the bay. The tide came in and floated the ice that you encountered.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
Ice in Wollochet bay near Tacoma was normal in winter when
things got cold for several days. Odd at first when sleeping on
my sailboat I heard this noise and took some brain work to figure
out what it was. Fresh water on top of salt. But with global
warming it should be a thing of the past.. Bob Heselberg near
Eatonville Wa
 
Hey, I grew up on Wollochet Bay! It is not all that uncommon for ice to form on the surface of bays and estuaries in Puget Sound when the conditions are right. Lots of fresh water runoff and cool temps. This is usually a thin film and is not a problem to boaters. But, the most extreme case in recent history was during the winter of 1949 (or was it 50?) Gig Harbor iced up to the point of being thick enough for not only walking on, but at least one car was driven on it. Horses were also taken out onto the ice. I can't find any pictures on line, but if you get to the Tides Tavern or the GH Museum, you can see pictures. The fishermen had to use axes to break the ice away from the hulls of their purse seiners to keep the ice from damaging the hulls. Of course I don't remember this :roll: . Robbi
 
Robbi":329pnuh9 said:
. . .But, the most extreme case in recent history was during the winter of 1949 (or was it 50?) Gig Harbor iced up to the point of being thick enough for not only walking on, but at least one car was driven on it. Horses were also taken out onto the ice. . . .Of course I don't remember this :roll: . Robbi
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Right on! I remember my parents talking about this happening on the Columbia River...January, 1930:

Jan1930ColumbiaRiver.jpg
 
Sawdust":nnhfwpz4 said:
Charlie,

That's two beers you owe!! Can't believe you'd kick an old shipmate when he's sober. :lol:

Dusty
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That's 'cause I've never seen you that way!! :shock: :oops:

Oh well, that's three, was worth every drop!! :lol: :love

Actually, it was probably Dusty taking the picture!! :photo

Charlie
 
Speaking of global warming, a large chunk of shelf ice recently broke off the northern part of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Wonder which C-Dory will be the first to make it through the ice-free Northwest Passage? You up for it Casey?
 
seahooked":1tn9f88p said:
I'm a newbie to boating in winter and am curious about how common it is to find ice in Puget Sound in this manner.
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I think I answered my own question this weekend on a trip to La Conner. It is not uncommon to find ice in Puget Sound during the winter. On returning to Edmonds on Sunday we began to encounter patches of ice periodically on the southeast side of Whidbey Island. As we approached Strawberry Point the amount of ice and the size of the sheets increased. We were zizagging around the patches for a while but soon there were no paths to follow (no other boats around to follow either). As the ice kept getting thicker and more jumbled, I was beginning to wonder if we might have to turn around. We kept slowly plowing ahead until we finally could see clear water. You can see the clear water in the photo. Definitely an interesting morning. Conditions: clear skies, low 20's, no wind, low tidal exchange.

La_Conner_Cruise_054.sized.jpg[/b]
 
speaking boats and ice, I just finished "North to The Night" by Alvah Simon. THis chilling tale is about a crazy couple that ran their 36' sail boat up to the Artic and wintered over....iz good read
 
Seahooked,

Must have just missed you. We did Oak Harbor to Holmes Harbor 11 am to 12 and then back again after the yacht race between 2 and 3 pm.

Only ice I saw was on my trailer !!!

M
 
B.C.
The book you mentioned on this thread last week: Alvah Simon's "North to the Night" was a great read-highly recommended. Thanks.
 
glad you liked it, I couldn't put the book down...it was a good time to read it, with that artic cold front smacking us upside the head, reading that book in the summer just wouldn't have the same impact
 
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