December 24, 2023: Merry Christmas!

Unless mother nature brings us a Christmas Eve Miracle we aren't going to have a white Christmas this year.  That huge storm that swept up the entire East coast wiped out all the snow right up through the mountains.  But she didn't leave us empty, bestowing us with other forms of winter beauty and fascination.

Ice crystals that formed in clear water in a roadside ditch.

One never knows where nature's wonders are hiding until one looks in the most unexpected places.

So there are no snowy winter scenes to share this Christmas, but all that rain raised the water level in Lake Wicwas over 20 inches, and the high water adorned the lake with other forms of winter art.  Most interesting were three-dimensional sheets of ice that formed as the receding water froze.

One of many flooded areas of shoreline.

It created shapes that look like topographical maps with elevation contour lines.

Looks like a topographical map to me.

I spent some time thinking about how this might occur, and here's my theory:  Ice starts forming from the side of the lake and works its way outward.  Simultaneously, it thickens from below by adding more ice at the interface of ice and water as long as ice forms faster than the lake level drops.  But when the water level drops enough that it is no long in contact with the ice - which is fixed to the shoreline - then no more ice can form at the bottom, and new layer of ice starts at the outer edge of the now-suspended ice sheet.  This process repeats with the multi-tiered sheet being supported by land on the shore-side and floating on the lake on the outer edge.  That's my guess!

Shorelines with a drop-off to the lake rather than a gradual slope developed icicles as runoff dripped slowly off and froze before each drop could make its escape.

The rising water also caused enough shoreline flooding that several docks and rafts left untethered and too close to the lake were swept away with the wind and current.  One large group of dock parts ended up where one would expect - right up against the dam.

Fortunately it arrived unscathed and the Meredith water department crew came out and moved it away from the dam immediately after I alerted them.  The owners of this dock have been found and are working on retrieving it.

A second item got tangled up on the flooded shore line on its way down to the dam.

Its owners are also working on a rescue.  The final item has also be claimed; it didn't go far from home and is now secure.  

Many thanks to all who helped with identifying and retrieving these!

Humans aren't the only ones that have to deal with increasing rainfall events.  The wetland downstream from Wicwas was flooded.

Did you notice the freshly chewed trees?

The beavers must be in need of more material to reinforce their dams from the higher water.  It makes me wonder if their homes were flooded.  With the water dropping now they should be fine even without a white Christmas to insulate (and decorate) their lodges.

Merry Christmas to all!