I live in the Finger Lakes district of New York. Seneca Lake in particular is extremely deep (900+) feet and almost never freezes in even the harshest winters. The only recorded instance in history where it froze completely was in 1855.
The much larger (and much more shallow) Lake Erie completely freezes almost every year.
Accurately predicting when lakes will freeze (or not) is very complex. I would not expect MSFS to accurately emulate that. The simplified icing logic in use is probably the best we can expect,
It’s not that simple. Freezing areas don’t only depend on the latitude and altitude, but also on the climate type (oceanic, continental…) and other factors (the Gulf Stream warms up Europe, for example). Montreal and Bordeaux (southern France) are approximately the same latitude and altitude (sea level, more or less), and definitely not the same temperatures in winter. If the same logic was applied to both areas, a simple -1°C temperature would freeze the Garonne river (wich flows through Bordeaux), which last happened in 1985.
There is a chance that northern Italian lake are included in a “mountain climate” zone, and thus freeze in winter.
It’s quite simple. Is there a database like Metar (in this case for ice thickness) for all waters worldwide that Asobo could access and get the rights to reuse to include this in MSFS?
Yes there is? Then Asobo makes a proposal via Zendesk to implement this.
No does not exist? Then we have to live with it.
I don’t mind, it’s a flight simulator and not a ship simulator. For me, it’s enough if the flying weather and flight behavior is authentic. For me, Asobo doesn’t need to program additional ice physics for bodies of water worldwide (especially since this can’t be authentic either, since ice on water is too hard to predict). Of course now again players will come and say: Yes but seaplane in winter/realism … you can not have everything.
The Devs must get a real kick when hearing about some of the comments in these forums.
Oh, I almost forgot, the Devs never look at the forums, they are too busy for this kind of nonsense.
Have you tried going into the weather editor, making the temp above freezing, add the amount of snow you want on the ground, etc? That should work theoretically
I don’t understand really the level of excitement and the general bitterness of some replies. My question was simple. I didn’t mean to engage anyone in any complex weather/climate calculation, not Asobo, not anyone else. I was asking for the chance to disable this frozen effect that is making northern Italy landscape completely unreal.
Last time Garda lake frozen was in 1700, Last time Como lake frozen was before world war II. The temperature was 10 degree below zero.
Now it is barely 1 degree below zero for some hours during the day. If these conditions correspond in the average world climate to a complete water freezing that kinda surprises me but I don’t mind much.
I’m simply trying to have a realistic and immersive experience with my simulator.
I got some replies with a clear attempt to help me although they didn’t work. I still thank them.
It is not the size of lakes but the depth, that controls whether they will freeze in winter. I live very close to the Finger Lakes in New York State in the US. They are very narrow but extremely deep (around 900 feet). As a result, they never freeze in even the harshest winters.
By contrast, nearby Lake Erie, which is one of the Great Lakes, freezes over almost every winter. It is much larger than the Finger Lakes, but is very shallow.
I don’t thing MSFS has any bathymetry data (a database of how deep lakes and oceans are), so controlling the freezing of lakes based solely on latitude and air temperature is probably the best they can do.
Well… what about airports ?
I’m sorry but with that all white texture everywhere i can’t see runways or taxiways… so apparently in winter, all airport operations ceases for Asobo…
Actually… that reminds me: I want to be able to build snowmen next to the runway, applauding my landing attempts. And snowmen on the taxiways and parking spaces, in order to block other airplanes.
In fact, I want a snowball fight simulator (with NPCs like the ground crew, or even better: PvP) in FS2020!
Took the DC-6 out of Ketchikan a few nights ago and noticed the narrows were frozen solid. Sure, deep saltwater with swift tides freezes…
Worse than the scenery though, is the runways and taxiways. Why are they all just covered with snow? Is it not understood that most airports have snow removal equipment lol?
Yeah I landed on a “frozen” river (columbia river) in my area that never freezes, but is shown as being frozen in game in one area and it was like landing in water. Had to slew to get back in the air.
Please only with life jacket and only in an emergency!!!
By the way…the skids are a thing of their own. In the snowy mountains, I could only bring the Junkers to a halt to a limited extent. With the wheels however…full effect including handbrake.
