December 4, 2022: Early Winter Artistry

The battle between the seasons continues to be waged.  First a warm front pushed up from the south bringing warm gale-force winds and rain which saturated the ground and filled up the ponds.  Then a cold front made an attack, with its strong, cold, dry northwest winds driving back the wet weather.  Cold air following rain commissioned more interesting ice-art to be sculpted by nature.  Vernal pools along the Red Trail leading up to the White Mountain Ledge in the Hamlin Town Forest, which had been filled up again, were slowly draining into the soil when the cold temperatures hit.

A vernal pool beside the trail to the White Mountain Ledge.

Vernal pools typically don't have an outflow, but with the ground not yet frozen, water was seeping slowly in the soil, gradually lowering the water level as the surface of the pond froze.

Ice surrounds a blueberry bush in a vernal pool.

The artistic talent of nature is exquisite:

This ice formed some time after the cold front passed as the water needed time to cool down, but other ice formed just as the two fronts clashed, generating an interesting form of precipitation known as graupel.

Graupel

Graupel starts high in a cloud as snowflakes, but as the flakes pass through an atmospheric layer containing super-cooled water droplets, those droplets freeze onto the snowflakes, creating tiny, hard snowballs.

Being hard and round they tend to bounce and roll around, collecting in low spots.

Graupel reminds me of King Derwin of the Kingdom of Didd and his quest for a new kind of precipitation which led to Oobleck - and the rescue of the kingdom by young Bartholomew Cubbins.  Right now I'd be happy with some good old fashioned snow!

Also along the Red Lakes to Ledges Trail in Hamlin, down by the lake, I saw that the beavers have been busy.

Hemlocks girdled by beavers.

In addition to the  gnawed trees are several large scent mounds where the beavers are claiming their territory. 

Scent mounds on the shoreline tell other beavers this part of the lake has been claimed.

I won't be surprised to see a new beaver lodge being constructed in this cove over the next few years.

There was a group of common mergansers visiting Lake Wicwas this week, nine of them, apparently all males out on a guys-only trip.

A flock of male common mergansers.  Photo by Neil Crimmins.

They were traveling together and spent most of the day fishing and exploring the lake, being seen at both ends of the lake over the course of the day.

Earlier in the day, at the opposite end of the lake.  Photo by Linda Powell.

These are likely this year's juveniles which haven't yet found a mate; common mergansers pair up in late winter or early spring.

All the animals - ducks, beavers, loons - have at least a couple more weeks to enjoy open water since ice is still forming only in the smallest coves and streams.  

A topographical display of ice on a small stream.

With more warm and wet weather yesterday, we may have more opportunities for nature's ice-art.

December 5, 2021: Ebb and Flow

Ice is starting to form on the lakes now and every year it takes a different path.  This year Lake Wicwas is imitating an ocean with the ice ebbing and flooding like the tides.  The first ice appeared along the edges of sheltered coves on November 29, accentuated by a dusting of snow over night.  

Nov 29th

The next day was cold, and dawn on December 1st revealed the sheet of ice had crept half way across the cove.  

Dec 1st, 8:15 am

That night a couple of inches of snow fell and filled in the entire cove with a slushy layer that would be a stretch to call "ice" but nonetheless, there was no open water on that foggy morning.  

Dec 2nd, 3:15 pm

But the wind picked the next day and soon the slush was worn away.

Dec 3rd, 9:30 am

As the day progressed the wind eroded the ice most of the way back to the far shore.

Dec 3rd, 2:45 pm

That night it was calm and cold again - at 19 degrees the coldest of the season I think - and the ice advanced again.

Dec 4th, 8:30am

But this day was calm and barely rose above freezing so the ice held its ground throughout the day.

Dec 4th, 10:00 am

And this morning:  Another cold, calm night let the ice creep out the farthest yet, this time highlighted by a veneer of graupel.

Dec 5th

All of the cove was frozen except for the area north and east of the point on the right, and last night Jack Frost was particularly creative in designing the artwork on the clean canvas of lake after the graupel fell.

The area of ice between the shoreline and yesterday's ice.

These are some of the more dramatic ice patterns I've seen on the lake.

Graupel forms inside a cloud when super-cooled water droplets freeze onto an ice crystal churning around in the cloud.

This bit of graupel fell last night.

 As more ice builds on the particle its mass increases until finally gravity pulls it down from the cloud to the ground.

Graupel along with a few uncorrupted snow flakes.

There's no way to predict the weather well enough to guess when ice-in will occur, but the fact that significant portions of the open lake have had skims of ice means that it could be soon; a couple of cold, calm days could do the job.

There was some unexpected goose activity on one of those cold, blustery nights.  For about 30 minutes well after sunset there was a raucous explosion of geese squawking and honking out on the lake.  I can't imagine what they were arguing about at that time of night in dark December - unless some members of the skein (flying group of geese) were revolting at the leader having brought the formation down in that cold, dark, windy spot for the night!

Winter is coming on strong now, though the inch or two of snow we picked up earlier in the week was the first measurable snow at the lake.

It wasn't much, but it at least gave us a hint of winter and dreams of a white Christmas to come.