River Ice Update 5: Pleasant Valley Sun Days....

Ice is out along Pleasant Valley so this then will be the last river ice update. The river along the valley stretches for about one-half mile, this side of the Merrimack being mostly wetlands and the other side forested banks of Maudslay Park. It’s a beautiful stretch to begin my morning commute and this week watch the winter melt away.

The river opened in vectors day by day. Although the Merrimack is expansive here, the channel itself is narrow. Within that channel, the ice melted first in lengthy stretches of maybe 300 feet at a time. Like a black tongue of water it slowly licked the ice. Large chunks on either side fell away and floated down stream, like ice cream cascading from a cone on a hot summer day.

Therefore all week archipelagos of ice slowly drifted downstream towards the Atlantic. But it’s a tidal river here, so at times those islands would reverse direction and flow back upriver. Things are more advanced downstream; the river was shook like a cocktail at a Christmas party.

And overnight, blooms of thin ice will form and then melt during sunny mornings. It’s not spring yet, and I’m sure a belt of cold Arctic air could reverse the ice-out process temporarily and send the river reeling into solidity again. But the sun is climbing in the sky and soon the red-winged blackbirds will return to perch precariously upon the river grass and trill. It’s just a matter of time.