Have you ever noticed in the summer when you swim down deep, the water is cold? Of course! We all have. We know that the surface gets warm from the sun and air and that cold water sinks.
This time of year however, the air temps drop and water temps drop accordingly. But have you ever wondered why the lake doesn’t completely freeze? I mean if cold water sinks, as the surface water get colder and colder, shouldn’t that 32 and lower temperature water sink? Funny thing about water. Water that is less than 39 degrees is actually lighter (less dense) than water that is 40 and above. So every so often, you will see little blips like the one in the middle of the temperature graph below where even though the air temperature was below freezing, there was a quick bump in the temperature. This was caused by deeper, warmer water inverting with the cooler, more dense surface water. There have been a couple of these so far this season, and there will continue to be more until the surface water temps hit 32.
To keep an eye on the air and water temps, check out the lake conditions page at https://www.trexlers.com/lake-winnipesaukee-live-feed
