March Winds

 We've certainly had a good share of March winds in the last couple of days! Although wind does a neat job drying things out (think muddy roads!), cutting through snow by blasting it with warm spring air, and moving the ice on the pond to hasten melting, it can also do a lot of damage. A few trees came down and in some places disrupted power or temporarily blocked roads. While Gretchen Farnsworth was hearing the ice cracking and crunching at the north

end of the pond where the channel is open, mid way down the pond on the West Shore, the Ice Out block and flag were sitting in stately fashion, straight and undisturbed, seemingly on very solid ice.  (See photo, right taken this morning).

However, on the shore later in the day, Diane Rossi was busy securing the all-mportant clock that was swaying in the gusty wind. Her handiwork no doubt saved the clock from a frightful tumble onto the ground below. (See photo at left.) 

The tools of the Ice-Out Contest are constantly at the mercy of the weather, and sometimes other hazards such as snowmobiles and curious humans; but with everyone on the Ice-Out Committee living on the pond year around, there are lots of eyes on the setup to prevent damage or malfunctions. Still, there is little control over the weather at times, especially during March when more unusual and violent weather is likely.

To illustrate: we are now finally almost completely rid of snow, even on less sunny slopes. That said, it is a bit early to expect consistent warm spring weather, and the forecast for tonight is rain, with the temperature dropping so by morning we will be getting snow, and a fair amount. Joe's Pond area is predicted to get something in the range of 4 to 8 inches. We have sometimes made forecasters look silly by not getting the predicted amounts of rain or snow, and that could certainly happen this time. But we can expect at least some snow for the morning commute, and that means those eager folks who may have already removed their winter tires should be really careful - winter really isn't over yet! Tomorrow is, after all, April Fool's Day, and Mother Nature loves to play cruel jokes on us. We can only wait and see how it turns out. Several times this past winter when weather folks have warned about serious storms, those storms simply did not happen, and painful as it probably is for those dedicated prognosticators to have to admit they were wrong yet again, we are all hoping they have missed the mark on this one, too. 

I may have mentioned that I did an interview with a student from Cabot High School a while back. Her name is Ila and she is a part of a group that put together podcasts about Cabot and its history. Yesterday Ila sent me a link to their project. I thought some of you might be interested is hearing what the students came up with. It must have been a great learning experience for them - not just doing the interviews and learning about their chosen subject, but then they had to edit and put together the podcast. I think they all did a pretty neat job of it! Click HERE to reach their project.