With 0.59” of gauge catch this week, mostly in the form of snow, conditions remain near normal for the end of January.  The Pascoag Reservoir still has large areas of open water after last week’s warm weather so no skating, ATV or ice fishing this week.  Winter birds like chickadees, blue jays, nuthatches, sparrows and woodpeckers have been active.  Also, mallards and Canadian geese have been taking advantage of the open water on the lake.  Trails at Sprague Farm are a bit icy with packed snow from last week’s storm.  Fire danger continues to be posted as Low at George Washington state Park and the NIDIS website shows moderate drought in the southern quarter of the state and abnormally dry conditions in the middle 50%.  Only the northern quarter of the state shows no drought conditions.