What a Difference.... 1/30/21

Except for a 20 inch mid-December show fall, the ruminants of which are still on the ground, early winter has been typical in State College with daytime highs in the low to middle 30s and nighttime lows in the mid-20s - cold enough to form a thin layer of ice each morning on the pond at the campus Alumni Center. On top of the mountains to the north, winter temperatures typically are consistently lower.

We drove up to Black Moshannon Lake (near Philipsburg where Sue taught school) as a COVID GOOTH (Get Out Of The House) activity on the second Sunday in the new year. The main section of the lake was frozen over. People were ice fishing (from inside tents), ice skating, cross-country skiing, walking their dogs…on the main section of the lake. It reminded me of neighbors skating on the "Duck Pond" near our house in the mid-1950s, except that was a night time activity with fired build on the banks for light.

The smaller section of the lake, which has a sand beach (right side of the photo below), had been partially sheltered from the cold and so not totally frozen over.

What a difference 800 ft in elevation can make.