Season of 2013-2014 December

December 15, 2013
Ice has formed!  And now it is buried in snow...  As I type this, the snow is falling heavy. After almost a week of cold and the continued forecast of cold, the hope of sailable ice was looking good. I ventured to Tivoli South Bay, in Barrytown, on the afternoon of December 13th. This is one of the the earliest dates I can recall walking on the frozen south end of the Bay. I love this stroll on the first ice on the Bay. There was a solid 3 inches at the south end. It was bumpy, debris filled, and uneven. About 30 yards out, though,  there was a decent expanse of beautiful black ice, stretching to the SW, towards the RR tracks. I thought about bringing my skate sail down the following morning, but the area was probably too small for that. It was a perfect patch to skate on though. Three inches of clear ice, an inch of water underneath and the muddy bottom of the Bay. It was dead low tide. It is amazing to see the muddy bottom and the flow of the river underfoot. As I went further out the thickness dropped: two inches, an inch and a half. Finally I was on no more than an inch of ice and ran into something I hadn't experienced before. The ice ended and there,  a foot away from where I was standing, was the open bay - really mud flats. Maybe 1- 2 inches of water. I poked the crowbar through the ice underfoot - maybe an inch. But then there was no more than 3/4 inch of water under that and then the mud. The ice was basically sitting on top of the muddy bottom of the Bay.  I could poke the bar through ice at my feet, then reach over and push it into 4 inches of mud beyond the edge of the ice. The ice never broke through underfoot. (It is unlikely, and unwise, to be out on ice that thin at any other point in the tide cycle.) An immature bald eagle flew over head and headed south into the woods. Well this dumping ( a 10 inch storm on 12/14) will further help cool down the temperature of the River and if this cold hangs in, who knows?  A  look at the first ice, now buried:



Here is a glimpse of early ice in past years on Tivoli Bay.
first ice 2012-13:


First ice 2010:


2009--