Today, I was out at the pond and made an odd observation. The snow on the ice was gone in several spots/areas (99% still snow covered) and ther were some holes with unfrozen water away from the pond edges. A very experienced traper said the holes were not made by beaver or muskrats. Some of the holes were away from the edge over deep water where I am pretty sure there are no springs. Is it possible that the pond water itself was warm enough to melt the ice under the snow in these areas? The water has been well below full pool for many months and no surface water has entered in that time. Could the very cold weather have chilled the surface of the pond to form the ice (over 4" of ice where we cleared snow off to let light in) and then the snow blocked the current cold from reaching the ice so the warmer water below melted the ice from beneath? Could there have been a turn-over in the middle of winter? Very strange...
