Well, there's more snow today! I think we've gained about six inches more in the past couple of days. The warm days last week had settled the snow somewhat, but it shows just under 3.5 ft. at my stake - and the wind does hit that spot a bit sometimes, so I expect in lots of places the snow is deeper. Today we're getting the nice big, fluffy flakes that just seem to float. Earlier we had quite a bit of wind, but that seems to have died down now. My thermometer is reading only 14 degrees - I expected it to be warmer today, but perhaps that will come later.

Diane Rossi sent me the following message with these pictures. Click on them to make them larger.

I went for a snowshoe yesterday, and took these pictures.  As you can
see, the drifts over on the east shore (that's Buttura's, first picture) are lots
bigger than here, and there doesn't seem to be as much snow on the roofs.....it's windier over there!

Thanks, Diane. For those of you who may not be familiar with Joe's Pond, the west shore of the lake has a steep hill rising on the opposite side of the road from the cottages, and that protects them from the wind. It also gives late afternoon shade. On the east side, where Diane found the wind-swept roofs and drifts, the full force of the winds out of the west and north hits. There is little to break the force of the wind as it sweeps out of Canada. Joe's Pond is at an elevation of 1551 ft., so it catches weather other areas don't, and the wind can really whip down the length of the pond. It's well known that there's always wind in West Danville - sometimes, in mid-August, it might be just a breeze, but in the winter it's almost always blowing a gale.

I haven't much to report about the Ice-Out Contest yet. I heard from Homer Fitts yesterday that Channel 7 at Lyndon State College will be here on March 10th to film something about the contest. I've alerted Ray Richer so we might have the flag out, but it's really early - he usually doesn't put it out until about the last week in March. No point, really, the flag can get blown over or buried in snow if we put it out too early - or could be a hazard for snow machines and ice fishermen. There is absolutely no visible sign of melting going on - but things could be happening under all the ice and snow as the sun moves higher warming the earth. It won't be long, though. In another two or three weeks we'll begin to see some real melting going on - I hope!

In the meantime, the only real report of ice dept I've had so far is that a fisherman told them at Hastings Store the ice is deeper than his auger, which would be over three feet, I'd guess. Jane Larrabee said she'll ask some of the regular fishermen when they come in, and that should give us a more accurate depth to report.