Yes, there is still ice to report about: eighteen inches of it! What’s interesting is that we got a water temperature reading yesterday from just under the ice and from twelve feet down. Both were between 33 and 34 degrees. One school of thought reasons that the water gets warmer under the ice as the days get longer and the earth surrounding the lake warms up, melting the ice from below in addition to the warm air working on the ice from above.

If that’s the case, then we’re still a long way from ice-out. Jeff skated from Greenville Junction early yesterday, but the ice was getting soft by 8:00. There’s lots of open water in the north end, but the south is mostly intact. What sort of fun could be had on miles of slush?

From the “in your dreams” department, Bill Bernard sent this from Dillon Lake, Colorado:

If ice fishermen could be convinced to back fill their holes we might have far fewer drainholes over the course of a winter.