Warm Rain turned to Cold Ice.

12-20-25 VERMONT: In typical New England fashion, it warmed up, into the fifties, rained at least an inch, which washed away a lot of the snow, and then froze with a lot of wind. We still have snow cover, but instead of a foot we have an inch. We had another power outage last night for about 12 hours. Speaking of power the solar panels were not working when they were covered with snow, but now are making electricity again.  

The feeders are getting attention now, I topped off the old seeds with new seeds, and they’re all being eaten. At first it was just chickadees and tufted titmouses, but now we also have bluejays, downy woodpeckers and a gold finch, who still has a lot of color. I thought it was a pine warbler, at first,  because there is so much yellow, but it’s probably too late in the season for warblers. 

We started the day with sunshine, but now it’s overcast again and we might get some new snow tonight.  

Bluejay in the azaleas.

The upper pond is now full for the first time since May. The brook was actually flowing during the warm rain.

All the rain froze and the pond is now icy again.

The tables and chairs on the terrace had deep piles of snow, but are now clear.

Goldfinch are usually gray at this time of the year.

Tufted titmouse.

Downy woodpecker and goldfinch.