March started out with a couple of cold days followed by average to slightly above average temperatures. After the first week, some milder air moved in, with temperatures of 60 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer seen in some areas. 

Some rain came during the first week of this month and helped get rid of most of the icy areas on the ground. There was still some snow on the ground on March 7, but that was piled up by snowplows, or shaded by boulders or ground indentations.

On a local lake, ice fishermen reported ice depths on local lakes at 12-15 inches during the latter part of February. I went to one of the lakes during the first week of March and found ice covering the lake, but there was thin ice near the shore, thin enough to fall through. The river was losing a lot of ice after the rain of the first week, and the river crested at 10 feet, five feet over its height as measured the day before at the Barryville gage.

March can be an unpredictable month when it comes to weather; it is still winter for the majority of the month and in the past, there have been many snowstorms and much cold weather during March and into April. Long-range forecasts indicate near-normal temperatures, but weather system movements are harder to predict: March could have a mid-to-late-month lion’s roar. 

Spring is close at hand; look and listen at a local vernal pond for the last of the ice and the first quacking calls of the wood frog, the first amphibian singer of spring.