Schroon Lake To Mother Nature: Bring It!

With the potential for up to a foot of snow, rest assured that your reliable town Highway Department is at the ready to give back as good as it gets from Ma Nature.

That’s the message from councilman Roger Friedman, who we spoke with late Wednesday at the very beginning stages of the storm.

“It’s been flaking all day, with nothing sticking, but the best is yet to come. We are bracing for a long snowy couple of days.” Roger told us.

And the Highway Department is primed and ready.

“One of the miracles of Schroon Lake ever since I have been here is the Highway Department and their ability to clear the roads, no matter if it's inches or feet”.

Roger, an avid skier, says the smart money is on skiers from the area all assembling Friday at 8.30 am at the gondola at Gore Mountain, for the first run of the day.

“With the amount of snow that’s predicted, it’s going to be a glorious day. I urge everyone take a day off Friday and come ski."

A Big, Bad Storm, Comin’ Our Way?

Go figure: It’s almost Spring, we’ve had a winter with barely a dusting of the white stuff, so it makes sense that we could be in for a Monster of a storm?

At least that’s what’s being predicted by the National Weather Service starting as early as Wednesday night.

Wednesday: Snow likely, mainly after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 30. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Wednesday Night: Snow. Low around 25. East wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Thursday: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after noon. High near 33. Southeast wind between 7 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Thursday Night: Snow showers likely, mainly before 8pm. Cloudy, with a low around 23. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Got plans for a potential snow day on Thursday? Tell us in comments.

Ice Boating and Schroon Lake

We recently reported on ice boating on Schroon Lake, after reader Tom Fallon sent us the above photo of a sail boat gliding over our frozen lake at quite a clip. This was the first ice boat we'd seen and our interest was piqued about this unusual winter sport. Now reader Bill Bernhard shares with us some history of ice boating  -- both here in Schroon and the sports origins.

For those of you who might be interested, the iceboat pictured is known as a South Bay Scooter. They had their origin in the early 1900's as a working class boat for Bay Men on the Great South Bay of Long Island NY. What makes them unique compared to a typical Ice Boat is that they have no tiller or rudder. They are steered by trimming the Jib and Mainsail along with shifting the weight of the crew. There also is no runner or blade typical of most ice boats, instead they have strips of metal on the bottom of the hull. Lastly and most importantly they will float and sail like a normal soft water sailboat when the ice gives way or runs out. They are still actively raced today. 
On the south end of Schroon Lake there are three more conventional iceboats sailing until the snow comes.