Environment Canada Weather Forecast Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EST Wednesday 17 January 2007 for the period ending At 10.30 AM Thursday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind light and variable increasing to west 15 knots late this afternoon and to southwest 20 this evening. Scattered flurries ending this afternoon then chance of flurries. Waves less than 1 metre building to 1 to 2 this evening. Outlook..Strong southwesterlies veering to northwesterlies.
Deck temperature at dawn was -23°C.

The sun arrived with a bright dawn and cool temperatures. Defiance was not too coll for living on low heat without the Espar. Cabin temperature at the windscreen inside showed +12, and that is with 3000 watts of heat. Kick in the Espar and it was 24C in ten minutes. The weather has found old man winter in the last 24 hours. The ice song of freezing has begun and Defiance is once again becoming part of the icescape.

Picton harbour is now becoming fairly well ice covered.

There is a solid sheet of ice that now stretches from the Waupoos channel all the way to Morrison Point. The latest the channel has been open in living history was January 20 and then came one of the hardest freezes on record. So ther is lots of cold weather to potentially come yet.

Ragtime's winter cover seems to be doing its job and has no sags of collection as yet.

The amazing thing about Waupoos is the water clarity. Even with an inch of ice on the surface of the water you can easily see all the way to the bottom 7' below. Bob has once again proved how little equipment you require to haul your boat out for the winter. A chain and a tractor are all that is required.