Lake Erie water temp.

[JerryofWNY]

Channel 2 reported last night that the water temp is 67 degrees - the warmest ever recorded for that date. Normal he said is 61. Just wondering if any of you guys who fish the inland lakes here in WNY and keep journals have noticed warmer than usual waters. Hope it doesn't have a negative effect on first ice!!!

[adkRoy]

I have noticed this is the latest we have ever gone with out a frost that I can remember. Not a good sign. we need some more canadian cold fronts to push through.

[Polar]

Hold off with the boat winterizing guys.
You may be able to use them all year and not have to drill holes.
(It could happen!)

Mac

 Mac, why would you speak such words. If it happens I have a open invitation to the Dakotas.

[Mentiply]

I wouldn't worry too much. Nature has a way of making warm cold very quickly.

[Icenutter]

I think Mac should be placed in a corner and face the wall for that comment.   

[jimski2]

Good perch fishing now, so what if the walking out there is wet.

[FishnFiend]

How long have you guys lived in WNY. If you've spent any time here at all, you know that we ALWAYS PAY FOR NICER THAN NORMAL WEATHERdown the road.

We have nothing to worry about. First ice will be right on time, or maybe even a little early, because of the extra hot/dry summer we had.

To refresh everyone's memory, first ice last year happened right around the holidays. We were fishing Wilson Harbor between Christmas & New Years.

It's great to see everyone amped up for the coming hardwater season!! I myself can't wait!! (but there IS still a lot of open water angling to be done!!

[archbishop]

there aint gonna be alot of open water fishing, at least not for me. its hunting season, then maybe a week or 2 of steelies in the catt. then on to the hardwater. lets get them dang leaves off the trees so i can see the deer from my stand then freeze the water. i will be on either case or quaker as much as possible this year, with the occasional trip over to silver, but i wanna try the small boat harbor this year

[JerryofWNY]

We were on Silver Lake at Christmas last year too. Then came the warm-up and it all opened up. There was concern in Jan that it wouldn't be ready for the Trap Attack in early Feb.

[Ray4852]

Mac, I agree I would rather fish all winter in a boat then ice fish. If we get ice that’s fine with me too. I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave your boat out past November first around here. I always have my boat in storage by that date. I lived here all my life and I’m sure you know what the weather can bring too. If Mother Nature brings a mild winter this year its ok with me.

[archbishop]

Mac, I agree I would rather fish all winter in a boat then ice fish. If we get ice that’s fine with me too. I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave your boat out past November first around here. I always have my boat in storage by that date. I lived here all my life and I’m sure you know what the weather can bring too. If Mother Nature brings a mild winter this year its ok with me.

i think your on the wrong site
to hell with mild, freeze it up mother nature, freeze it up

[Ray4852]

I wish it was march first already.

[BIGFISH]

hell with the warm water freeze baby freeze

[adkRoy]

Over the weekend I heard on the NOAH weather radio that the temperature of western Lake Ontario was 59 degrees. 

[tommyboy]

For those of you concerned with Lake Ontario, if you visit this site, you can actually see the water temps dropping... pretty cool!

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/oswt-ncast.java.html

Enjoy that one for a while... it won't be long.

Tom

[JerryofWNY]

...and ten days later the temp of Lake Erie has dropped 9 degrees to 58 - normal for this date.

[oakorchardfishking]

im just curious if anyone here has ever put any faith into what the FARMERS ALMANAC says for winter predictions?
i personally never have... first time i heard a prediction from it was last year. cant remember how faithful it was. sorry for the length of what i posted here, but i wanted to show something from each region that covered NY since they have the map broken up kind of funny!
 

here i tried to find all the forcasts that covered all parts of NY!
Includes all or portions of Illinois (Aurora, Chicago, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford), Indiana (Fort Wayne, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, South Bend), Michigan (Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Sterling Heights, Warren), New York (Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Tonawanda), Ohio (Akron, Cleveland, Dayton, Parma, Toledo), Pennsylvania (Erie, Hermitage, Meadville, Sharon, Warren), Wisconsin (Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha).
The season's wintry weather will be short but powerful. After a relatively mild November, December and January will be exceptionally cold, with frequent snowfalls, heavy in the east. Then, winter will break and February will be unusually mild. Temperatures in March will be a bit below normal, on average. Snowfall will be above normal in the east and below normal in most other parts of the region. The coldest periods will be in mid-December and from mid- through late January. The heaviest widespread snowfall will occur in late January, with other major snowfalls in early, mid-, and late December; in mid-January; and in early March.
April and May will be cool, on average, with above-normal precipitation and snowfall several times in the first half of April.

Includes all or portions of District of Columbia (Washington), Georgia (Dillard, Sky Valley), Maryland (Aspen Hill, Bethesda, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Silver Spring), Michigan (Detroit, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe Woods), New Jersey (Augusta, Belvidere, Branchville, Newton, Swartswood), New York (Auburn, Binghamton, Elmira, Ithaca, Syracuse), North Carolina (Asheville, Hickory, Kernersville, Morganton, Winston-Salem), Pennsylvania (Allentown, Altoona, Lancaster, Reading, Scranton), Tennessee (Mountain City, Roan Mountain, Trade), Virginia (Arlington, Burke, Lynchburg, Reston, Roanoke), West Virginia (Charles Town, Keyser, Martinsburg, Petersburg, Ranson).
The winter season will be colder than normal, on average, with above-normal snowfall. Most of the snow and cold will come during December and January, when temperatures will be seven or eight degrees below normal, on average. The rest of the season will be much milder, with near-normal temperatures in November and March and a very mild February. The coldest periods will be in mid-December and mid- and late January. The heaviest snow will occur in early and mid-December, mid- and late January, and early March.
April will start with a late-season snowstorm in the north, and temperatures will be relatively cool for most of the month. May will be a bit cooler and drier than normal.

Includes all or portions of Connecticut (Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury), Delaware (Bear, Dover, Hockessin, Newark, Wilmington), District of Columbia (Friendship Heights, Washington), Maryland (Baltimore, Columbia, Dundalk, Ellicott City, Silver Spring), Massachusetts (Boston, Brockton, Cambridge, Springfield, Worcester), New Jersey (Edison, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson), New York (Brentwood, Hempstead, New Rochelle, New York, Yonkers), Pennsylvania (Chester, Levittown, Norristown, Philadelphia, Radnor), Rhode Island (Cranston, East Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, Warwick), Virginia (Alexandria, Arlington, Hampton, Newport News, Richmond).
Winter-season temperatures will be one degree below normal, on average, with above-normal precipitation in most of the region. Snowfall will be much greater than normal just about everywhere. The biggest snowfalls will be in early December and the second half of January, with other snowy periods in late December and early February. Temperatures will be relatively mild in November, the first half of January, and February, but colder than normal in December and exceptionally cold in the second half of January.
April and May will be cooler than normal, on average, although there will be warm temperatures in mid-April and early and late May. Rainfall will be above normal.

Includes all or portions of Connecticut (Canaan, North Granby, Sharon Valley, West Cornwall, Winsted), Maine (Auburn, Bangor, Lewiston, Portland, South Portland), Massachusetts (Chicopee, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Springfield), New Hampshire (Concord, Dover, Manchester, Nashua, Rochester), New Jersey (Colesville, Glenwood, McAfee, Sussex, Wantage), New York (Albany, Poughkeepsie, Schenectady, Troy, Utica), Pennsylvania (Matamoras), Vermont (Barre, Bennington, Burlington, Rutland, South Burlington).
Although much of the winter season will be milder than normal, December and January will be exceptionally cold. Winter-season temperatures will be near normal in Maine, but a degree or two colder than normal elsewhere, on average. Snowfall will be below normal in the northwest, but above normal elsewhere. A big snowstorm will hamper Christmas travel, with other major snowstorms in mid-December and the first half of March.
Temperatures in April and May will be below normal, on average, with above-normal precipitation. Expect snow in early April, and very warm temperatures in early May.

i never really put any faith into the weathermen anyways... i feel that they have one of the best jobs in the world. they get paid a decent buck to guess on mother nature. and even with all the high tech equipment they have, they still manage to screw up my fishing weekends...lol
but as far as the almanac prediction goes... it seems like a guess to me too! look at the map above... no duh its going to be cold in the northeast. isnt it always cold in december, january, february and march?
i think even a trained monkey could say that temps will be abover or below by a few degrees this year compared to last!

OAK
~curious to hear other opinions~

[tommyboy]

Oak,

I never put too much faith in that stuff, but it is a good conversation starter at least.  It would be nice to just right it off as nonsense, but the Farmer's Almanac hit the Blizzard of 1993 right on the nose - which is either a miracle of modern science or the biggest coincidence in modern history.  For this year's prediction, I'm hoping it's the former, and not the latter.

And since I just realized this thread is about Lake Erie and not Lake Ontario, here is the proper surface water temperature map for Lake Erie: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/eswt-ncast.java.html