The One Starting With Ice-In And Ending In Snowpocalypse

At the start of last week the temperatures plummeted. Seemingly overnight, the lake went from "very open" to "almost closed". It looked like the open water might stay that way into Wednesday. It's uncommon that any open water freezes up during the "heat of the day". There was nothing that remotely resembled "heat of the day" on Tuesday. The single digit highs of the day before Wednesday would have the last word.

On Tuesday morning, the North was frozen tight.

Elements nearer the South end of Lucerne remained open. Nobody skied.

Before sunset, the 8°F high and light winds iced the rest of the open water. A dusting of snow removed all doubt

Congratulations to all the winners of this year's ice in contest. The Knottlane Accounts Payable and Prize Patrol is currently getting your checks and special rewards ready and have promised The Board that they will be sent out before Christmas. Look for the Ice-Out contest to be posted at the slightest sign of Spring.

The bar has hired a squirrel bouncer to ensure that bird seed gets to the birds. When around, the ginormous wood pecker has been extremely effective at keeping the horrible, horrible squirrels on the ground.

That, and a flock of wild turkeys has been populating the bar's grounds once or twice a day.

They don't do it well, and they don't go very far, but amazingly they can fly.

By mid-week, the temperatures recovered, the mid-day shadows grew a little longer, and the lake remained ice covered.

As the sun set on Friday, the snow started to fall. By sunrise it was clear that January, the second of the four Horsemen of the Snowpocalypse, came early.

Usually January doesn't start until after December 31st, but we live in strange times.

As the winds picked up, the first snow devils of the year danced on the frozen lake.

Primary roads are in good shape. Secondary roads like West Shore Drive and Potawatomi Trail, not so much.

Knott Lane is narrower with a 2 to 3 inch base.

It was not hard to spot cars that were left outside overnight on Friday.

Snow depth on lawns and other flat areas around the lake is just below 16 inches. It's been said that it's deeper in the woods.

The sun and warmer weather gave the bar its "teeth" early.

Some of the icicles were planted on the deck rails in an ill-conceived attempt to keep the horrible, horrible squirrels at bay.

The ground seemed to never stop moving as strong winds picked up unsecured bits of the Snowpocalypse and sent streams of fresh snow across the chilled flats.

Above it all, there were some eagles and a few pretty good sunsets.

January, a Horseman of the Snowpocalypse that normally arrives around a week after Christmas, is upon us here in the northwoods. In a normal year, this summary page would be devoted to praising the skill, talent, and beauty of the winners of the year's Ice-In contest. This year, all the pageantry, glamour, and swimsuit competitions have been superseded by a thick blanket of white. Sorry winners. They will have to put the tiaras, bouquets of while roses, and Speedos away until next time and just be happy with this year's checks and prize packages to be mailed out sometime before Christmas (would have been sooner, but there were some supply chain issues). They will also be happy to see the time lapse video we got of ice-in (thanks aLf for lending us the time lapse camera). It'll be up on the main page later this week. Now is the time to take inventory for the 31st Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War. Frozen Lake? Check. Wall forms? Check. Snow? That's a big check. Fort building starts on January 17th. The event starts on Saturday January 22nd at 6:30 PM.

-Nemo: Clearer of Driveways, Bane of the Horrible, Horrible Squirrels.

The One Starting With Ice-In And Ending In Snowpocalypse

December 6th through 12th, 2021