The cold weather that arrived this month has resurrected a New Hampshire institution: The Alton Bay Ice Runway, the only FAA-designated airport on ice in the Lower 48, has opened for the first time in three winters.

Jason Leavitt, who manages the airport, made the call after determining the 260,000-square-foot site has at least 12 inches of ice, including 2,600-foot runway, taxiway and airplane parking area. That thickness is needed not so much for the airplanes themselves but to support plow trucks that clear off snow.

Alton Bay has been a seaplane base since the 1940s, while pilots have been landing on the ice since the 1960s. The runway has a special reputation among private pilots, who come from as far away as Florida to earn an Ice Chip commemorative piece for landing here.

It never opened in 2023 or 2024 as the warm winter prevented the ice from getting thick enough.