Heavy snow – and lots of it – has affected the lake ice quite differently this year. While warm days throughout the winter exposed some holes at underwater springs around the lake, frequent cold snaps froze slushy sections up until the end of March. The spring warming trend is quickly softening the top layer of icy snow and walkers, skiers and sledders are finding themselves in several inches of water and slush which is sitting on the top of the ice. Spring of 2013 was an excellent time to enjoy nordic skiing. The day’s thaw of the top sliver of ice would refreeze at night, producing a near-flawless sheet of ice over most of the lake for morning skating. One would almost think that a Zamboni had spent the night removing flaws from the surface and filling in cracks. We may be running out of time to enjoy that type of skating again this year.