The machinery that moves the seasons slipped last week. We didn't slip backward to Deep Winter, but the season was not advanced to Spring-ish. Instead, the lake was stuck with the close to freezing highs and the unfortunate lows that defines the February-esque season of Thaw.
Early last week, there was a lake ice check. We expected more. It looks like a yard of ice is not to be this year, but 25 inches is still pretty thick.
The thaw-by-day, hard-freeze-by-night nature of the weather has created a thick, bruising ice layer on top of Knott Lane. This is probably the main reason that the O'Keefe Triathlon in not held during the month of March.
The snowmobiles got a bonus week and ice-out contestants got a more complex problem. You'd think that an extended cold would push ice-out back, but it can also result in a more violent early Spring. Savage Spring takes the ice faster. Still, we think that the lake will be ice free by June. Not so sure about the snow in the woods. Having sunk up to the belt while wearing snowshoes does not bode well for a snow free July.
-Nemo dressed in layers, still got cold.
