First Ice on Puffer's Pond

First ice of season forming on Puffer's Pond, 11/13/2013, 7:30 am
(Photo by S. Vardatira)

Despite being a brilliantly sunny, blue sky morning, the day started out anything but warm. Winter has settled in the Valley (at least for a few days), and making the adjustment from the 40 and 50 degree days of last week to the plunging cold of last night and this morning is challenging. I'm not sure why it's so much easier to put up with the cold (and much colder) in mid-winter than it was this morning, but that's just the way it is. In fact, a 20 degree morning in January might not actually seem so bad. It's all relative. Other than one jogger that passed by, along with the sporadic car on State Street, not another human was in evidence at Puffer's Pond South Beach this morning. I did glimpse a duck paddling lazily in the open water near the marshes on the east side of the pond, but if there were others around, they were well hidden. Most of the trees have dropped their leaves, but a few are still hanging onto their foliage, which rustled gently in the light breezes. As I had anticipated (there would be no other reason to venture out in the cold this early!), ice has started to form near the shore and wherever the water is particularly shallow. Even from a distance I was able to identify the patches of ice by the swaths of leaves frozen on the surface. Where it's not frozen, the leaves have floated away, leaving the water dark and clear. Air temperature: 24.6°F.