Above: Westchester Lagoon: April 15th, 2005 12:45 PM ADT.
Ah. Spring is in the air: melting snow, surfacing dog doo, runners in shorts when it's still just 35 degrees, returning geese teetering on the ice, etc. Another sure sign of Spring is the Westchester Lagoon Ice Classic. This year is the fourth edition of our little tradition. As in past years, the ice prognosticators have been gauging the temperature gradients, analyzing the effects of this year's El Nino winter, pondering the implications of global warming, charting bird migration patterns, throwing the i-Ching, etc. All in attempt to win this year's Ice Classic.
So - get ready to guess. And you'd better hurry - the ice may actually go out early (or late, but better safe than sorry). You want to be sure to get your ice-out-of-here date entered in the contest.
Rules:
- The participant must guess the date the ice goes out of the Lagoon.
- Each participant gets only one guess.
- Date for entries closes at 11:59 PM ADT on April 25th, 2004.
- A guess consists of just a date - no time. I refuse to install a timing tripod on the Lagoon.
- I will check the ice several times each day.
- ALL the ice must go out. It sometimes goes out in chunks - but chunks don't count.
- Participants must supply their e-mail address. This is so I can contact you if you win.
- If more than one person guesses the winning date, each winner will get a full prize - up to 4 winners. If there are more than 4 winners, the winning 4 will be selected based upon earliest entry into the contest.
- All judge's decisions are final and I (Steph) am the judge.
- Ah - the prize. It's a good one - a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.
Voting:
- Voting will be done through the comments feature.
- The voting comments button is at the bottom of this post.
- Click on the comments button and submit your vote.
- The cool thing is that everyone will be able to see everyone else's vote - hopefully there will be a lot of them.
Notes and Hints:
- In 2004, the ice went out on May 4th a day on which we set a record high temperature of 66 degrees. The 2004 winners were Dr. L., and Phil.
- In 2003, the ice went out very very early, April 26th The 2003 winners were Brad and Phil.
- In 2002, the ice went out quite late: May 10th and the winners were Erin and Brad.
- I've not seen anyone walking on the ice for weeks - we had a warmy rainy spell that rained off the snow. People just became a little leery.
- The section of Chester Creek just East of Spenard Road is mostly open. For you non-Anchorage-ites, Chester Creek feeds into the Lagoon.
- There are two open leads at the East end of the Lagoon. Each are about 50 feet in diameter
- If I got to vote, I'd vote for April 28th. I think the ice may go out early this year.
So vote away.
CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK RIGHT BELOW TO VOTE:
1:39:43 PM 
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