Cooler, windy.

After the rain last night we notice quite a difference in the ice. First I must confess I gave you bad information yesterday when I said there was open water to about opposite the Allen cottage on Old Homestead. That was an optical illusion - I'm sure some of you will understand how difficult it is to judge distances when one is about at water level. I was looking at the water from Sandy Beach Road yesterday, but when we went down W. Shore Road today, I took a picture from Gardners' parking space and it's plain to see where the open water is. I've included that photo in the slide show. Click Here

You'll see in the pictures that both smaller ponds are pretty much ice free except for some driven into coves by the wind, or in the case of Point Comfort's docking area, sheltered from the wind and slower to melt. There is a sharp cut-off at the narrows leading out of the big pond. The ice is crowded into that lower end of the pond and appears to be pretty solid. There's a lot of water going over the dam, but you can also see a tinge of green on the grass by the penstock. St. Johnsbury area is looking quite spring-like. Trees are a bit further along, also flowers, no snow in evidence except as you go into town on the right by the river where the town has dumped their snow all winter. That's going to take a while longer to melt.

The wind has been blowing down the lake at a good clip all day, so all the ice is packed into the cove where the block and Ice-Out flag are set up. While the temperature has been around 50 most of the day, the sun is bright and with the wind stirring things up, we know the ice is changing rapidly. If the wind shifts into the south, that will begin to drive the ice up the pond again and could be the final push needed to let the block and flag down. We've known the ice to hold together through several of these direction reversals in the past, so it's still anyone's guess when it will weaken enough for the block to go down.

Today Chico sent a message that as of 5 p.m. yesterday, 3,730 times picked on Ice-Out tickets had gone by. That's about a quarter of the guesses out of the running. We'll keep everyone posted as to ice conditions, but I really think Chico's prediction that it will go out on May 8 is going to be wrong this year, for the first time in 14 years! Just goes to show you, it's been a strange winter - and is a strange spring!

We expect a few Joe's Ponders back in the next few days, though. There's enough snow gone now so people can get out onto their lawns to rake and clean things up a little after the snow. This wind will dry out the roads and gradually, summer will arrive.

Here's something you may be interested in knowing about that's planned for the Joe's Pond marshes - Birdathon