The One With All The Clouds

Temperatures fell back to normal last week and the sky was populated with clouds that whispered threats of snow, sleet and other forms of late November pestilence. Real snow, the kind that requires cursing and shoveling, never materialized. By the end of the week the threatening clouds and biting cold remained, but there was no blanket of white covering the northwoods (mostly) .

Last week was not all clouds and flurries. Patches of blue may have been few and far between, but they were there.

Small honks of geese on the North end of the lake would jump into the air at the slightest provocation. Either they were really skittish or in a super hurry to get where they were going.

The clouds around mid-week forewarned all that looked up of upcoming wind and waves.

They did not lie. Strong breezes kept the lake angry during much of the latter part of the week. Nobody sailed.

Despite the cloud cover, every night had a hard freeze evidenced every morning by the frost covered grass.

Puddles and small ponds around the lake started the mornings with an ice cover. By the end of the week, afternoons and evenings had them ice covered, too.

No ice on Lucerne yet. By the end of the week, the lake's temperature had dropped just below 40°F. Nobody swam.

Intermittent flurries have given the roads around the lake a wintery, walk-with-more-caution look.

Knott Lane even more so.

I would expect with the coming cold (highs in the 20s°F, lows just above the single digits) that we'll see some ice on the edges and around the islands next week. It would be unlikely that we'll see ice-in some time next week, but you never know. So far, the much diminished Knott Lane suet feeder hunting camp along with a few neighbors have taken at least 3 bumper denters from the hills. The birds and other small woodland creatures will be pleased. The larger woodland creatures, not so much.

-Nemo also noted that nobody skied.

The One With All The Clouds

November 15th through 21st, 2021