Hot Hot Hot

May 21st through 27th
It's amazing how quickly the hills have gone from gray to green this year. It's equally amazing how quickly the air temperatures have gone from April to eleven. Astonishing, but after an unusually long winter, very welcome. Except for the mosquitoes. We hate those guys. And there was rain. Mostly at night and well over an inch. The lake is continuing to go up. Many docks have been swallowed up by the rising lake. Some wiser people have built new docks a bit higher than most. That, plus it's cool to have a dual boat house/submarine pen if the lake continues to rise. Be careful while boating this Spring. The high lake level has turned debris that was once safely shored, into hull thumping, prop bending excitement. The wind came from the South during most of last week resulting in warmer surface water being pushed North. By Saturday the lake temperature on the North end was touching 70 ℉ . The warm water, warm air, and holiday weekend came together to create a perfect storm of boat traffic. Footers seeking flat water were disappointed. The wind shifted on Saturday night. All the warm water pushed South and a great welling up of late April water flowed North. In less than 24 hours, Lake Lucerne's temperature dropped by 10℉ . Contrary to the lake, the hot continued in the air through the weekend. That, plus the humid had the ferns almost glowing with green. Some of the trillium seemed just as happy as the ferns. Most of the trillium peaked early in the week and were entering the purple wilt-y part of the forest flower season. Unmowed lawns have gone to seed. The hot and humid have made mowing a twice a week event. You should have been at Saturday's bar night. The cocktails were particularly well layered. Later in the evening, the "Skull Shots" came out. There were many bottles with just a bit of dubious liquid in them. It seemed like a good idea to use "Skull Shots" and a simple dice game to render the bottles harmless. Not sure why, but many of the liquids were pinkish. The nights were also warm and well lit by an almost full moon. Didn't hear or see any skiers though. They might have been too tired from all the day skiing. That, or "Skull Shots". In summary, it was hot last week. This made all the shore tasks much more joyous. Piers, boats, and lifts went into the water with much more of a cheery flourish than in past years. With the water being warm for a majority of the missions, there was also much less screaming. The hot weather is predicted to bring with it some good storms. The last time the lake was this high was 1978 which is strangely the same year the temperature records we are currently besting were set.<br><br>-Nemo tries not to confuse causality with coincidence.