Gun Deer Opening Week

November 12th through 18th

Shadows were a bit longer last week and the air was a lot colder. Single digit mornings are the norm in January, but uncommon in November. Many local lakes have become ice covered. Lake Lucerne remains almost entirely ice free. Nobody skied.

Many have gotten over their "Fall's Over" denial and grown to accept "Early Winter", but we don't have to like it.

Potawatomi Trail has its coat of ice and snow about a month and a half early this year.

As bad as the ice is on Potawatomi, Knott Lane's covering is even worse.

The cold has spawned some Yuletide cheer in the elves at WPS. Lucky homeowners had their lawns decorated at no cost!

You can avoid the ice by walking the ditches and cutbacks along the roadside, but beware. There's a fine crop of burdock waiting to cover clothing with super clingy brown bits of itchiness.

Above all the ice, snow, and burdock there were at least 2 eagles soaring from pine to pine on the North end of the lake..

The creeks and streams that flow into the lake are still running but are becoming ice covered. The ground is very saturated so when all that coming snow melts, it could push the lake up to record levels.

There is a little ice on the North end of Lake Lucerne and more by the islands.

Every morning, and especially on very cold mornings, the liquid part of the lake steams, giving up its remaining heat. If the cold continues, it won't be long before ice-in 2018.

Lake Metonga has some ice, but is also mostly ice free.

Devils Lake, along with Lakes Wabikon and Riley, may be thick enough to walk on. I'd give it a few more days unless you really like surprise late season swims.

Bundle up, it's gonna be a frozen, snowy ride. If the cold continues, the lake will freeze before December. It may even go in before November 26th, the earliest ice-in date on record. The College of Loons, the semi-secret lake society that watches and officially records such things, has been placed on high alert this week. This week's forecasted snows will make identifying any open water that much easier.<br><br>-Nemo's almost done with security updates, picking burdock off shoelaces.

Remember when the ice went out last Spring?
If not, here are the last 6 days of ice (May 3rd through 8th) compressed into 3 minutes.
(Special thanks to aLf for use of his time lapse camera.)