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The Ice Man declares the lake is frozen

The Ice Man declares the lake is frozen
Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville is officially frozen, but there are still soft patches.
Photo by Don Mayland

LAKEVILLE — Don Mayland reported “ice in” on Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville on Sunday, Jan. 16.

He wrote:

“January is always a strange month and this was no different for calling ‘ice in.”

“There was no sign of ice until the morning of Jan. 12.  Then, the very cold temperature and little wind allowed for a skim of ice to cover the entire lake, with the exception of some open holes in the northwest corner.

“The air temperature then went up a bit the next few days, but the skim stayed.

“The real cold set in on the 14th and 15th, which did the trick.

“So, I am declaring ‘ice in’ as of Jan. 16. However, the holes in the northwest corner have a very thin ice cover at this time.

“Let me give a bit of historical perspective. I took over as the Ice Man in December 2008. The earliest ‘ice in’ calls by me were Dec. 30, 2010, and Dec. 30 2017. I checked the records that were left with me when I took over from Walt Shannon and I see that the earliest ‘ice in’ on record was Dec. 6, 1901.  The latest was Feb. 21, 1950.

“As always, nobody should assume that the ice is safe this early in the season, especially in that northwest corner.”

Patrick L. Sullivan
Senior Reporter
Patrick Sullivan has been a reporter for The Lakeville Journal since 2004, covering everything from town meetings to local characters and the outdoors. He grew up in Northern Virginia but spent summers on Mount Riga in Salisbury, giving him a lifelong connection to the Northwest Corner. A graduate of Denison University, Patrick is also the author of Tangled Lines, the newspapers’ popular fly-fishing column—making The Lakeville Journal, as far as anyone knows, the only newspaper in Connecticut with a regular fly-fishing columnist. He once received a fan letter from England, which he considers sufficient evidence that his work has achieved international acclaim.

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