Copyright John A. Sperr

HRIYC.ORG

Friday, January 3, 2014

6 - 10 Inches of new Drifting Snow

Brief Arctic ( -5 F ) Intrusion Tonight / Tomorrow AM

No Sailing Yet


Last Winter on Tivoli Bay -- January 27, 2013

Weather  Links

Check out the new WTEN Futurecast product
(I've made it very easy to customize this link to suit your own preferences)

Iceboat Launch Site Maps & Directory for the Eastern US


Email John Sperr      On-the-Ice Cell # Request

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right click and select "view image" to see photos in full resolution

 

Blowing and Drifting Snow

More Snow Sunday -- No Sailing Yet


Reid Bielenberg checking thickness

Light snow began Wednesday evening and continued through daybreak this morning. There's about 6" in the driveway -- I suspect the real total was higher and that much of it drifted into the woods last night. The center of low pressure hovered nearly stationary all day over Virginia before jumping off the coast late in the day -- it then rocketed east well off the coast as it bombed into a powerful nor'easter. Cape Cod to Downeast Maine took the brunt of the action with heavy snow and punishing seas.

Sub-zero arctic air is flowing in behind the departing storm, but it looks to quickly depart by Saturday evening. View the 10 day GFS forecast images in the Weather Links for the full details. The National Weather Service says this coming week will be the coldest outbreak since 1994. That was a good year for iceboating -- there was ice in New York Harbor and we actually sailed for a few days just north of Croton Point in Haverstraw Bay on the east side of the river before the weather warmed and the powerful thermal discharge from the Indian Point Nuclear Plant took the ice out. We moved 70 miles up the river to a sheet of ice that measured 30 inches in thickness and nearly ten miles in length at North Germantown. We assembled the historic yacht JACK FROST on the River for the first time since 1982. The ice lasted nearly a month -- we sailed on a sunny Sunday afternoon and the next day it was gone -- blue water greeted the stragglers at the dock.

We'll get out and start exploring later in the day once the roads improve. Perhaps the ice off of Astor Point or Cheviot will prove to be the largest beneficiaries of this round of weather. More snow is forecast for Sunday night.

 The Coast Guard Auxiliary Air pilots have been busy making regular reconnaissance flights and publishing good photos in areas where there is ice -- I've linked them below and right for quick access.

I highly commend to you fellow iceboater Brian Reid's new blog -- I can now retire to Maine in peace knowing someone else has taken up the mantle here in the Hudson Valley.

White Wings and Black Ice

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Reid Bielenberg with NORTH WIND on Tivoli Bay -- March 2011



VIXEN AND WHIFF


My tool for measuring the thickness of the ice -- Red = 3 inches, Green = 6 inches


GPS track of SPIDER at Rhinecliff -- February 2011


Swamp Skating in SG-4 -- December 2009


ORION was first to set up on the ice at Rhinecliff in February 2011.
USCG Ice Breaker PENOBSCOT BAY soon arrived and skillfully docked without disturbing the newly formed sheet of ice we were setting up on.

 


Current Jetstream Forecast and Surface Conditions -- Image by Environment Canada


FDR's Ice Yacht HAWK on display at the Wallace Center in Hyde Park



FDR at the helm off Rogers Point

 

Aerial Photos of the Ice

The US Coast Guard Auxiliary Air Program regularly flies the river when ice conditions warrant and makes the resulting photos available for public use. Sometimes I edit and annotate them to point out interesting features.

 

USCG Ice Flight January 2, 2014

USCG Ice Flight December 31, 2013

USCG Ice Flight December 29, 2013

USCG Ice Flight December 27, 2013

USCG Ice Flight December 26, 2013

USCG Ice Flight December 20, 2013

USCG Ice Flight December 19, 2013


Skiing on Tivoli Bay -- January 2011


SPIDER at Rhinecliff -- February 2011


ORION's Christening Party -- February 2010

Web Page Archives

December 8, 2013 Archive

September 22, 2013 Archive

May 24, 2013 Archive     August 1, 2013 Archive

April 14, 2013 Archive     May 1, 2013 Archive

February 20, 2013 Archive     March 17, 2013 Archive

 September 23, 2012 Archive    December 22, 2012 Archive

June 4, 2012 Archive        July 14, 2012 Archive

January 16, 2012 Archive

Wreck of the Galatea Archive

December 26, 2011 Archive     December 15, 2011 Archive

October 2011 Archive          Early Summer 2011 Archive

May 2, 2011 Archive                    March 1, 2011 Archive

February 24, 2011 Archive     February 19, 2011 Archive


Ice on the move at Rhinecliff -- January 2010


Maine Sunset at our Wild Blueberry Farm in Sedgwick -- October 2013

Weather Links



Stevens Tech SSWS & NYHOPS Zone Forecast Tivoli Bay 15 Image 5 Day GFS Forecast
Northern Hemisphere 850 Temp  Regional Summary -- NY, NJ, CT, MA 5 Image 2 Day Forecast Maps
USA Radar from Intellicast Jetstream Forecast Snow and Precip Type Forecast Loop
NE US Radar from Intellicast Current Snow Depth Water Vapor Forecast Loop
Albany Storm Precipitation Totals Saugerties Lighthouse Live Image 3 - 7 Day US Hazards Outlook
Day 1 Quant Precip Forecast Map  WTEN Interactive Radar and Futurecast 10 day GFS Forecast
Day 2 Quant Precip Forecast Map Northeast Wind Speed (Kts) & Streamlines 31 Frame Forecast Animation
Day 3 Quant Precip Forecast Map Northeast Temperature 5° F Contour Quantitative Precipitation Discussion

Links to Field Reports of Ice Conditions

IDNIYRA Ice Conditions Reports

Saratoga Lake Ice Report

Yahoo Group  "IceReports"
 

Safety


Brakes On? 
photo Copyright Brian Reid, December 2002

 


Rules-of-the-Road

Email John Sperr

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HRIYC.ORG is neither the official website, nor am I the webmaster, of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club. I am a long standing member of the Club and during the sailing season  I frequently post photographs and information on this, my own personal website, about current iceboating activity in the Hudson Valley and beyond. I am the sole person responsible for the presentation of content and the opinions expressed herein. Interesting photographic contributions are welcome and appreciated -- I spend most of my time on the ice skippering and far too often fail to capture the best images of the day.                    ŠJohn A. Sperr MMXIV