How much ice per hour?

It's common sense that water freezes at 32 degrees but at what rate does it take to make an inch of ice? I know there are many other factors that play into this such as wind, snow, etc. The reason I ask is because when I was growing up, my brothers and I acquired this knowledge that when the temperature reaches a certain low; the lake will make an inch of ice per hour. I don't remember where we picked this up or who we heard it from but when I try to find information on this, I can not find anything. All in all and with all the factors taken out except water and air temperature, how much ice is made per hour at certain temperatures. If you know an answer, please post your source.

Thanks.

This is a chart to go off

Just bringing this back to the top. Some useful information with the excitement of the the colder temps and lakes freezing over. Be safe.

Ayefeesh-Thanks for the chart. That confirms my suspicions.

I have always noticed how a lake can go from nothing to 8 inches rather quickly, and also how a lake can go from no ice to "fishable" sometimes in 2 to 3 days.

But, once it hits 16-18 inches of ice, it seems like that's what is on the lake for the next 4 weeks, nothing really changes.

Seems as if the first ice is usually a matter of a day that hits 45 degrees, followed by a wicked cold front where the night gets to be 15. The next day the high is only 29, the night 12. The next day the high is 27 and the night is 13. Then, that next morning is when I'll try to fish!

This made my head spin: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=121482

Thanks for all the answers.

Think about this possibilty:

Ever hear of flash freezing (there are other terms, but this is the most common for me)?

Say that your favorite body of water remained undisturbed for about 20 hours to reach 10 degrees of ambient temperature (average). This will only work if the water is slowly, and equally cooled. Then, take a pebble (or anything else you can find) and throw it into the water. Because of the physics involved, the water will begin to instantly freeze creating a solid layer of ice.

Imagine that, you would go from open water to frozen lake in a few minutes.

I'm not saying this is possible, nor impossible (anything can happen under the right conditions), just would be an awesome spectacle.

First ice forms the quickest. After that, the ice actually insulates the water and prevents it from freezing as fast. If you have 20" of ice and the temp is -10 you might only make 1/4" of ice in a day.

Here's a chart for reference....

More like an inch a night, sometimes 2". I can generally count on 2" of ice to be present after 2 evenings of near-zero weather, once the lake has glazed over.

Inch an hour? Only in my ice cube trays.

I don't really know if there is an exact answer. Yes there is snow, wind, water current, the thickness of the ice already, sun, also is it just at freezing? Or is it 50 below zero?