Icy Morning

Although it was a chilly 15°F at the cabin this morning, statistically, the day has now arrived when the winter temperature turns towards the warmth. December 20 (or was it 21?) marked the winter solstice, when daylight reached its shortest span and then began its run towards longer days. The earth, however, like a freight train that takes a long time to stop, continues to cool for some time past the shortest day.

Like the change to more light that begins in December, the change to more warmth is only a tiny change, a change of statistical averages. In this area, the average daytime high during midwinter is 37 degrees F. The average nighttime low is 23 degrees. Fifteen days in the middle of winter typically show the same results: average high of 37 and average low of 23. But today, the average daytime temperature vaults to 38 degrees (though the nights are still an average of 23 degrees). And so it begins again. Summer is on its way, if only just a little.

I took the photo this morning over at Roundtop’s new pond. With the warmth that I saw this past December, there’s not much ice to see, though it is finally forming. This pond never freezes very much, due as much to its spring-fed cold water as to the fact that Roundtop will pump from it to make snow.