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The data on the NOAA chart for 2012 is said to be preliminary. While October was cooler than last year, for example - it is still a very warm year overall. Last year the ground around here only froze up on December 12th, this year it is close to freezing up in the next week or so. This is still *much* later than at any time in my lifetime. Last year the ground only stayed frozen for two ~5-day periods plus a couple of other 1-2 day periods. Most lakes and ponds *never* froze solid - only thin crusts around some of the edges.
100 years ago, there was a hefty ice harvest by December or January; and often a second ice harvest later in the winter. If we still depended on ice chests, we would be up a creek...
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