February 12

Thawed all day yesterday and rained somewhat last night; clearing off this morning. Heard the eaves drip all night. The thermometer it 8.30 A.M, 42°.

The snow or crust and cold weather began December 26th, and not till February 7th was there any considerable relenting, when it rained a little; i.e. forty-three days of uninterrupted cold weather, and no serious thaw till the 11th, or yesterday.

How different the sunlight over thawing snow from the same over dry, frozen snow! The former excites me strangely, and I experience a springlike melting in my thoughts.

Water now stands above the ice and snow on the river.

I find, on shoveling away the snow, that there is about two inches of solid ice at the bottom, that thin crusted snow of December 26th.

For twenty-five days the snow was sixteen inches deep in open land!! (1856)