Meltdown

03/27/2022

There's still time to get your picks in. Tickets are on sale until Friday, April 1st - unless the block goes through the ice before then.

GOSHEN — There are three indisputable facts about the Meltdown: the Goshen-dedicated fundraiser is enjoying its 18th year; the concrete block remains on top of the ice on Hammond Pond; and there’s still time to buy tickets to correctly pick when it...

03/22/2022

I stopped at the dam on Hammond Pond to check the condition of the ice on my way home from my morning commute back from the fire tower.

As many of you know, the 2022 Meltdown contest is in full swing and things are warming up even though overnight temperatures were cold enough to refreeze sections of the pond that were still.
As I stood there watching the impact the wind was having on the ice floe, a shadow of a bird raced across my field of view.

Looking up, I saw the white tail of an eagle as it flew away from me. I raced to the car to grab my big lens while simultaneously keeping an eye on the bird.

The only open water on Hammond Pond at the moment is on the north end - just opposite from where I was. It scanned the waters surface for breakfast. Seeing nothing, it started flying back towards me eventually finding a resting spot high in a white pine tree about 200 yards away from me.

I texted one of my neighbors to let him know that the eagle was on a tree in his yard. His response was that he visits every day. (I guess that's one advantage of having lakefront property)
While I did capture some pictures of the eagle in flight, I felt that this one did a better job of capturing the shear beauty and strength of this magnificent bird.

I hope you agree.

P.S. The 2022 Meltdown contest is still going strong. Without giving away any secrets, might I suggest you get you picks in sooner than later. 😉

https://goshenmafire.com/meltdown/

03/21/2022

First things first. I need to apologize for a mistake I made last week. I mis-labeled all the pictures in the last update as being from 2020 and not 2022. Thanks to John Sober for pointing that out to me and keeping me honest. I can assure you that the images were all taken in 2022.

03/12/2022

Tickets anyone?

Right click on the picture and save to your computer then print.

03/01/2022

It's official. The 2022 Meltdown has begun. I'll do my best to keep this page along with our website up to date in this ever changing climate we're currently experiencing.

Here's a link to tickets:

https://secureservercdn.net/192.169.220.245/1gq.8cf.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022-Meltdown-Tickets-1.pdf

01/07/2022

While the ice is still too thin to put the block out, several nights next week are forecasted to be in the single digits.

Hammond Pond has had a thin sheet of ice on and off since Thanksgiving. Before today's snow, any previous small accumulations of the white stuff had melted away. Let's see how long this snow sticks around.

03/27/2021

Time lapse of the passing clouds over Hammond Pond in Goshen today. As you can see, there's still ice on the pond. Let's see how much longer it will last.

"Rites" by Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com).
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

03/26/2021

This is what happens ice on Hammond Pond starts a fight with warm air aloft.

March 25, 2021

03/20/2021

UNDER THE ICE SHELF

The Goshen Fire department cut a hole in the ice in late February to allow for ice rescue training a few days later. I took the opportunity to put a camera in the water to get a better view of the ice shelf on Hammond Pond.

As you can see in the video, there were several layers that made up the 18" of ice that was underneath the 2021 Meltdown block.

03/15/2021

Snow squalls, wind gusts near 50 m.p.h, and chilly temperatures mark the start of the 2021 Meltdown.