Wind and some of the coldest temperatures of the winter have been the features so far this month. Lows have been around 0 and afternoon highs are in the teens with a stiff wind making it feel colder. We are scheduled for snow this afternoon and tonight to add to the feel of winter still hanging on. Needless to say my plans for an early spring and start to the guiding season have been put off. At least for a couple of weeks.
February started out where January left off warm and wet. We had another rainstorm yesterday that washed away all of the snow again. There is yet another rainstorm today. This has been one of those warm winters that never really seems to get started. We have had very little real cold weather in stark contrast to the below zero weather that we had last year. Winter sure is bleak without a blanket of snow. Not to mention how much I miss getting out on cross country skis. It is not over yet but the days are already noticeably longer and the sun has gotten some real strength.
The weather has been unusual for Maine in January with the temperature nearing 50 degrees a couple of days last week. When I drove into Rockland yesterday morning I noticed that a couple of ice fishing shacks had gone through the ice. I guess with all of the warm weather and rain the ice is not very thick. We are back to normal temperatures now and it is snowing hard this afternoon so at least it feels like it should be January and not May. The latest weather story is that we will get 3 to 6 inches up from the inch or two they were talking about this morning.
