The One With the Big Wind

December 13th through 19th, 2021

Lake Lucerne
Last week started off warm, sunny-ish, and wonderful. The lake area had a Spring like feel. If the local golf course were not under several inches of past week's Winter, there might have even been golf. That changed in a big way mid-week.
Lake Lucerne
The wind on Wednesday during the day was not as strong as expected. The wind on Wednesday night was stronger. The 54°F high on Wednesday combined with lower ground temperatures to produce some impressive fog. All day long, visibility wasn't better than 100 feet and many times less than that. All that fog was blown out at night along with many trees.
Lake Lucerne
Trees weren't the only victims of the breeze. Some boat lifts got tipped during the impressive overnight gusts.
Lake Lucerne
Some were even damaged.
Lake Lucerne
Before the temperatures plummeted, there was also some pretty heavy rain.
Lake Lucerne
The tail end of the rain turned into snow. The still strong winds of Thursday picked it up and danced snow devils up the lake.
Lake Lucerne
The fresh coat of white recorded the northern Wisconsin version of "March of the Penguins" with the penguins played by uglier birds and whispering pines replacing Morgan Freeman.
Lake Lucerne
By the end of the week, the condition of Knott Lane looked not so good, but was really not so bad. The base ice was mostly gone and the bits of gravel that poked up offered a surprising amount of traction.
Lake Lucerne
Other roads around the lake had treacherous packed snow/ice patches that increased heart rates and spontaneous "dance moves" of those foolish enough to trek on them.
Lake Lucerne
Finally, the first lake ice check since ice-in found 5.5 inches of the very clear, cold stuff covering the North end of Lucerne.
Lake Lucerne
The warm at the start of the week made the cold of the weekend seem that much more bitter. The wind did not help. We'll all be cutting up downed trees and picking up branches well into Spring. On the plus side, with the falling of some trees, Summer mowing just got easier. That, and firewood will be cheaper and more plentiful.


-Nemo remains upright and unbruised, but it was a close thing.