January 4, 2015

Happy New Year!  It's the first week of January, and already the days are getting longer.  We had enough cold weather this past week to finally secure what looks like a lasting layer of ice on Lake Wicwas.  Ice-in just made it before the end of 2014, freezing over on December 29th, a full month later than last year. 

Ice-In on December 29, 2014

The cold weather after all the rain made for an outstanding skating surface, but only on the areas that have been frozen since November.  It also created a beautiful reflective surface for sunny blue-sky days and cold winter sunsets.

Sunset on New Year's Day, 2015

Coming back from a run on one of these cold days I found a group of motorcycle enthusiasts out enjoying the ice by the boat landing. 

They have some pretty nice looking equipment, with sharply customized tires for getting a bite on the ice.

They even brought some young drivers along to start getting a feel for ice riding at an early age!

I took a walk in the Hamlin-Eames-Smyth conservation area on New Year's day.  The rapid drop in temperature - right after the heavy rain - had formed elaborate ice formations in the streams, as they were still flooded from the rain and snow-melt.  This stream crossing is right at the trail head on Chemung Road,

Hamlin Trail Head

Farther along the same stream, the surface had frozen where the ground was more level and the water had slackened. 

Bright sun reflected off the formations.

The saturated ground also extruded these curious ice crystals as the cold air and soil above drew the warmth and moisture out of the soil.  Water froze from the surface, pushing each crystal upward as it froze.

 These crystals are about an inch and half tall.

The coldest weather of the season will hit in the next few days - it  looks like winter was just waiting for 2015 to arrive.