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	December 4th through 10th, 2023

At the beginning, it looked as if the lake would be ice covered before the weekend. The southern third of Lucerne had a nice cracky, snow covered sheet and the north end had a few feet of ice extending from parts of the shoreline. That changed around mid-week.

At the start of the week, Lake Metonga also had its share of ice with a similar distribution to Lucerne (ice covering the south, mostly open on the north).

After Wednesday, high temperatures jumped into the 40s°F. The ice clinging to the northern shoreline melted.

The ice around the islands retreated a little, but was thick enough to not completely go away. I wouldn't walk on it though (involuntary swimming, fear it).

The warmer weather created some patchy ground fog in the morning. The ice on Wabikon, Riley, and Devils Lake seemed to shrug off the March temperatures.

Going into the weekend, all the ice on the north end was gone.

There was almost golf on Friday, but we ran out of light. The remaining ice on Lucerne took a beating.

The warmer temperatures and shrinking ice extended the great gathering of mergansers and loons on the lake.

The weekend's relatively warm weather rewarded Christmas light stringing procrastinators with the gift of unfrozen hands during the hanging festivities. All we needed after about an hour of ladder time was some snow to complete the holiday look.

Saturday night's snow came in surprisingly fat clumps.

We were expecting an inch. We got twice that much.

On Saturday, the lawns of the north end were green and some could have used a mowing. On Sunday, some grass may still have needed a trim but the green was buried under a blanket of white.

The rain/snow mix before the snow made West Shore Drive ugly for both walking and driving.

The condition of Knott Lane isn't much better.

To those that picked a late date for ice-in, well done! To those that thought (like me) that the ice would come early, better luck next year. We have a few frigid mornings coming, but then warmer temperatures are forecast. If ice does not cover the lake soon, we could be looking at the first ever January ice-in. Well...maybe not ever, but at least since we've been keeping track. A January ice-in would make getting the last swim of '23 and the first of '24 (<a href='/WeeklySummaryPages/2006/01012006/swimN.html' class ='defaultlink2' target='_blank'>jump in just before midnight, leap out just after</a>) far easier without having to cut a hole in the ice. If you haven't entered in this year's <a href='/icein/IceIn2023.html' class ='defaultlink2' target='_blank'>Annual Lake Lucerne Ice-In Contest</a>, now's the time.<br><br><br>-Nemo canceled his tee time, hung some lights, and battened down the hatches.

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