Saturday, March 16, 2024

Today's Ice Report, March 16, 2024

This may be one of the last ice reports we will be able to give to you. The weather is going to remain warm, so conditions are changing quickly on the pond and it may not be safe for my source to be out there. However, Bob Mackay is ice fishing this morning and he just reported to me that solid ice and snow have sort of merged and he drilled through 20 inches of "soft ice" to get to water this morning. That means more rapid melting going on with no solid ice to slow things down.

I also heard that Lake Morey's ice went out today, and their contest is over. Last year their ice went out on April 6. Stiles Pond in St. Johnsbury/Waterford area is reported to be very dark and that usually goes a bit before Joe's. There is no contest there, but it is one of the ponds we watch to get some idea of when our contest may be over. No report on Molly's Pond, which is another marker that we watch. Lakes and ponds in the area are listed as being "unsafe" at this point.

There you have it. Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! I hope you find your own personal pot of gold!


Friday, March 15, 2024

Ice Report

 In case you've wondered where I've been all week, I've been here at home, isolated with Covid. Yup, I finally got it! I must have gotten overconfident or something - I was out of the house only once last week, on Friday for lunch with son, Bob, and on Sunday I felt I was coming down with something. I tested negative then, but on Monday morning I felt worse and tested positive -- and it's been downhill from there. I finally got Paxlovid on Wednesday, and that seems to have helped, but honestly I don't believe I've ever had such severe symptoms that lasted for so long. I've had bad colds in the past, and this is pretty much what my symptoms have been, but this was harsher and seems to be lasting longer. Today is the first day I've felt anywhere near "normal" - and even that has been fleeting. My energy level is nil. Not that I much mind doing nothing -- but there are easier ways to achieve "permission" to be lazy than this.

I've had lots of attention from family and friends - all from a distance, of course - so I was checked often and perfectly fine except for feeling horrible. I wasn't aware of anyone around us having cold symptoms as Bob and I had lunch, but who knows. I did stop briefly at a grocery store, but there again, I was careful to not get close to anyone and it certainly wasn't crowded. Oh, well. I'm now initiated and I can only hope that having had Covid will perhaps build a little natural immunity - I'm not sure it works that way, but I'm going to hand onto that thought.

I wanted to share with you this photo from Diane Rossi of the Ice-Out setup as it looked this morning. The snow is melting, day and night, so water is running into the pond off the hillsides and will be helping to reduce the ice pack on the pond from underneath. I have about 5 or 6 inches of snow on the ground around my house, although there are some bare spots, too, after a warm day today and rain. I think it's safe to say that spring is here. I'm noticing some pussy willows in my back yard! 

So that's it from here. My friend, Bob Mackay is going to get me an ice measurement tomorrow and I'll post that as soon as I hear from him. I was a little surprised he's still willing to go out on the ice, but he said last week he measured 18 inches but he did say he was going to proceed with caution. In the meantime, get your tickets in soon, just in case the ice doesn't hold until April 1.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Back to Winter



Well, those of us who kept our fingers crossed that this storm wouldn't sock us with a lot of snow should have saved our effort. We awoke this morning to masses of heavy, wet snow on everything and it has snowed very steadily until about noon, and then began tapering off. Now it is settled into flurries, the temperature has risen from about 30 degrees to almost 40, so there is a little melting going on. I took these pictures from my living room window to show you what greeted me as I lifted the shades this morning!

The snow is wet and very heavy. I measured a strong 9.8 in.  at about 8:30, and we have added at least a couple more inches since then. I won't measure again until tomorrow morning, and I believe the forecast is for more snow later today into tomorrow. Not how we had hoped to begin the "new season" ushered in by Daylight Saving Time.

Not only is there a ton of snow weighing down tree branches, the road is a mushy mess. Plows have been through, but with mud under the new snow and no freezing temperatures to firm up the road base, it is really pretty bad. There is very little traffic on the road. Nobody wants to put their car through that punishment unless absolutely necessary - unless they are clueless.

Jamie and Marie came early this morning to clear my driveway and help me shovel the deck. Jamie used the snow blower for some of it; he says that works better than trying to move massive amounts of such heavy snow with his truck plow. It is, after all, a small size pickup, not an industrial size plow truck like the town uses. Marie is a super-shoveler. She says she actually enjoys it! I certainly appreciate appreciate her enthusiasm.


We have had spring-like weather off and on all winter, and that simply amazes me. When I was growing up here years ago, our winters were better defined than they are today. We had lots of snow with deep cold periods when temperatures were well below zero for days, sometimes beginning before Thanksgiving, but always by Christmas; and sometimes there would be a "January thaw" when we'd tet a preview of spring, but then we were plunged back into winter for weeks, gradually warming but seldom crazy warm like recently. Around town meeting day farmers began to look forward to sugaring, but there was always the danger of a really big "March storm" that would add to the snow depth. With plenty of snow on the ground, tapping was done by men on snowshoes, and breaking roads in the woods for the horses to get around with the gathering tank had to be done. Sometimes the snow was so deep in the woods it took a lot of time and effort to be ready. During
sugaring season, we looked forward to seeing patches of bare ground developing in the surrounding fields. I remember sitting outside of our sugar house on the big stone step, feeling the heat of the sun and being excited to hear a crow in the distance. With luck, the pattern of nights below freezing and warm, sunny days would last for two or three weeks and sap runs would be good. If it got too warm, the trees would start to bud and then sugaring was over and it was time to wash buckets and stack them for another year. When there were only patches of snow left on the ground and then we'd get another snowstorm, most farmers would say that the new snow helped to melt the old snow faster.

During a big sap run, my dad sometimes had to stay all night at the sugar house  to keep the evaporator going because the holding tank was full. A few tmes I got to go by horseback to take his supper to him, and that was such an exciting time for me - riding one of our work horses a couple of miles to the sugar house in late afternoon and then coming home, usually after dark. The horse knew her way home and was always eager to get back to the barn, so the trip home in the dark was always exciting - I was literally just along for the ride, and usually we made it back in record time, mud and snow be damned. (Pictures of family and my dad during sugaring, 1935.)

We had a lot of bare ground before this storm. Now there is probably about as much new snow as there is ice on Joe's Pond, so will this new batch of snow melt the old snow (and ice) faster? Nobody knows for sure. The last report I had was several days ago and we had only 18 inches of ice. Since then, there has been open water stretching between the narrows into the middle pond and the smaller pond in West Danville. Most of the fishing shacks have been removed and I expect most of the fishermen have quit for the season. So when the flag will go down and stop the clock for this year's Ice-Out Contest is a question that we can only guess at. One thing is certain: tickets have been gobbled up this past week and a lot of people are realizing they'd better get their picks in sooner rather than later. Good luck with your guesses!

I leave you with some interesting articles from NASA Earthdata. I don't understand a lot of it, but some is very interesting. (Photo below is from Cousin Ora in Rhode Island.)



Thursday, March 07, 2024

News Items

I found out late yesterday that the Cabot Post Office has been closed indefinitely due to "structural damage." I spoke with Betty Ritter, our town clerk, this morning and she told me this happened on Monday and that mail will be handled out of Marshfield P.O. If she had more information, she did not share it with me. I will try to learn more. Our rural service will not change, but it will certainly be inconvenient for people who have post office boxes in town. 

The other bit of news is particularly interesting to Joe's Ponders since it involves Littleton, N. H. deciding to set up an Ice-Out contest in 2025 that is patterned on ours.  There is an article in the Caledonian Record  this morning. There have been contests similar to ours set up in a number of Vermont communities and several states over the years. We used to get one or two requests for information almost ever year - so often that I made up an instruction sheet describing our set-up, and when I got an inquiry I could just attach the sheet. I have no idea if any of those contests are still going, but I remember there was one in Massachusetts that ran for a number of years; and there was one on  an in-ground swimming pool that a grade school did one year, but I don't think that was repeated.

There are contests on Harvey Lake, Lake Memphremagog, Lake Iroquois, and Brookfield by the Floating Bridge, that I know about off-hand. And of course the really big one in Alaska, the Nenana Ice Classic. We had a contact person who used to send a few tickets each year to Homer Fitts, and Homer sent some of ours to him. That contest is HUGE!  The jackpot last year was $222,101, and there were 10 winners. 

Sort of an afterthought - when I measured the rainfall this morning from the past 24 hours, I got 1.49 in. Yesterday morning I measured .40 in.  That's a lot of water in addition to the snow pack that is melting. There are new flood warnings this morning and Route 2 near Marshfield has water on both sides - it was likely over the road in spots last night, but hopefully is past cresting. If you have to travel, beware of the high water and please don't take any chances.

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Is It Spring Yet?

 This is certainly unusual March weather - at least early March weather! The bare patches outnumber the snow patches around my house now, the road is wet and slimy (but thankfully no deep mud bogs like some years - thank you, Cabot road crew!), the pond is looking mighty watery, although a few days ago someone had their truck out there. That is living dangerously!

Speaking of the pond and ice, just a reminder that with this fickle weather, it may be a good idea for those of you holding your Ice-Out Contest tickets until the last moment to turn the in, may want to reconsider - or at least pay close attention to the weather and ice conditions. I don't know how thick the ice is now, but with the continuing rain we're getting today, and warm temperatures both day and night (38.1 now and it has been much warmer earlier in the day, but not below freezing for several nights), the ice must be melting from all directions! The moment the clock stops, the contest is over and no more tickets can be accepted unless postmarked before the clock stopped.

We're still in a pattern of temperature swings, but the warm days and nights are far outnumbering the cold ones. Ski slopes are getting bare and it's too warm for snow making, so some are closing. There was a flood warning posted for parts of Vermont and New Hampshire today. A couple of hopeful and confused geese visited a few days ago (photo by Gretchen Farnsworth) but they were discouraged at the lack of open water and left. We lost electricity briefly last night - probably a tree toppled over after the earth around its roots got too soggy and it lost its grip. Some animal visited my suet feeder the other night and I found it in the pathway some 15 ft. from where it had hung, open and empty. It could have been a bear but I suspect a raccoon. There is so much bare ground, I couldn't make out any tracks at all, but I'm sure bears are out and about in this mild weather - hungry, as usual. We'll probably see daffodils and other spring flowers poking through the ground soon. It's freakish weather, for sure.

Here's some interesting news - I learned recently that a youngster, Rownin Berube, of St. Johnsbury, caught a 12 lb. lake trout that was 34 in. long in Harvey's Lake. The same messenger disclosed that a woman caught a 15 lb. laker here at Joe's Pond this winter. Every now and then a big one gets caught in our smaller lakes - they are down there, but I guess if they live to be that big most also may have figured out how to avoid being caught. That is Rownin pictured here. A big fish and one happy youngster!

WCAX had a short news item tonight about the wake boat decision. The new regulations will go into effect this summer. 

I leave you this evening with one more reminder - be sure to get your Ice-Out tickets in the mail earlier than usual. If the flag goes down and stops the clock before April 1st, that will be the end of the contest and no entries will be accepted after that date and time. The weather has fooled us a few times in the past and while we were very worried about having to call the close of the contest early, it never happened. This year could be different - or March could turn on us with it's usual furor. Stay tuned.






Wednesday, February 28, 2024

The Block & Flag Are Out!

 Well, it's that time of year again - time for Ice-Out contestants to get serious. Some years the weather has been so miserably cold the flag didn't get put out until the first week in April, and that has puzzled some folks. Since entries in the contest need to be in on April 1st, it only seems fitting the flag should be up before then; but when it's bitterly cold and windy, with lots of ice yet to melt, organizers know nothing is going to happen quickly, thus the delay in getting the flag out and the clock set up some years. 

This year is different. We haven't had the bitterly cold weather that kept the temperature near zero for days on end. Instead, we've had wild swings of temperatures well above freezing in the 40s and sometimes 50s, and then a few near zero nights and days in the teens or 20s - but we also haven't had a lot of snow. Crazy weather like this year has made the ice both less dense and less strong. We've been fortunate here at Joe's Pond that nobody has gone through the ice, but on other lakes there have been several accidents, the most resent at Lake Memphremagog last seek when two adults and two children went through.

So with really mushy conditions, the committee wanted to get the Ice-Out gear onto the ice sooner than usual. The flag was put out today, and our Ice-Out  publicist Michelle Walker said it has a new pallet this year - the old one was badly beaten up by the ice last year. People who may still be using snow machines need to watch out for the flags that mark the lines that run from the pallet and flag to the clock on shore. Please do not go too close - and never go between the flag and shoreline. We don't want that line to get damaged or anyone to get tangled in it. It is well marked, as you can see. (Photo by Gretchen Farnsworth.)

Michelle said media coverage included WCAX-TV and a reporter from the Caledonian Record. WCAX will run the story on tonight's news, probably the 6 o'clock edition. Probably the article will be in the newspaper tomorrow or Friday. The reporter was covering other aspects of the contest, not just the flag getting put out, so that may not come together for a day or so, depending on who he is able to reach. He was hoping to get an interview at Waterford School where every student and employee gets a chance to win the contest for the benefit of their school. This is the second year Waterford School has entered our contest.

The Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest closes on April 1, 2024 at midnight. If you want to be part of this fun guessing game, you will find on-line tickets available on the Joe's Pond Association website. There are still tickets available at Marty's 1st Stop in Danville, Hastings Store in West Danville, and several other outlets that are listed on the website. Just be sure you have your entries in by midnight, April 1.

I found this graph showing the trend we've noted over the years of our Ice-Out Contest. Statistics for all the years are on the JPA web site, if you are interested, but this give you a good idea of what is happening.

Today is like spring. The thermometer may have been as high as 50 degrees - I didn't keep close watch - and last night the low was 37F. When I was out to get the mail around noon, there was a real feeling of spring in the air. The birds have been busy cleaning up seeds and bits of leftover fruit under trees, and there is a fair amount of bare ground in spots. We still have 8-10 inches of snow on the ground in most places here at Joe's Pond, but in Danville, Marshfield, St. Johnsbury and beyond, there is hardly any snow left. Just a few remnants of banks left by plows, or when the sun doesn't hit in hollows, etc. One March storm could change that in a big way, of course. There is water on top of the ice on my backyard pond, and  we've had a misty rain from time to time today. Lots of melting going on everywhere. Spring is certainly in the air - for the moment!

Have an interesting Leap Day tomorrow . . . !

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Sad News

I'm so sorry to bring sad news to our Joe's Pond Community.  Lisa Hebert (Clubhouse Circle) passed awaythis week. Lisa was Joe and Pam Hebert's daughter-in-law, married to their son, Chris. Chris and Lisa enjoyed their summer home here at Joe's Pond, and Lisa enthusiastically became part of the Joe's Pond community, working with the Ice-Out Contest committee, and joining in social activities. She leaves her husband, Chris, two children, Devin and Rachel, and other family. I didn't know Lisa well, but when my granddaughter, Jo-Ann first came to this country from Namibia about a decade ago, Lisa and Rachel welcomed her with a gift box containing a sweet note from Rachel, some of her favorite toys, and other items a 10-year-old girl in a strange country would enjoy. I will always remember Lisa (and Rachel) for that very kind, thoughtful gesture. Lisa had many friends here at Joe's Pond, and we will miss her kindness, good nature, and strength. She set an example for all of us. Condolences to  Chris and children may be sent to 294 Swift St, South Burlington VT 05403; to Joe and Pam at PO Box 147, West Danville, VT, 05873. You may also leave online messages to the Ready Funeral Home Tribute Wall.

Today's Ice Report, March 16, 2024

This may be one of the last ice reports we will be able to give to you. The weather is going to remain warm, so conditions are changing quic...