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March 25th through 31st, 2024

The weather last week was an event. We started the week with snow. Then came rain. Then cold. It was a good week to stay indoors. Or in Florida or Arizona. The snow at the start of the week was not trivial. Nor was it light. Thankfully, the reign of 7+ inches of wet, heavy snow over decks and roads was not to last long. Heavy overnight rain took much of the snow and swelled all of the creeks and inflows. The rain and the melt water turned parts of West Shore Drive into a shallow river. At the start of the week, it was noted that the condition of Knott Lane has been better. All the run off puddled on the top of the lake ice, giving Lucerne a more open look. Holes opened and much of the water went under the ice. The cold nights that followed froze the rest. After the coldest part of the week, there were still some cracks of open water in the southern part of the lake. On Friday, we flew the drone around the area to check on the progress of ice-out on a few of the local lakes. To our surprise, Lake Metonga is almost ice free. Peshtigo Lake, just north of Crandon and home of Footstock, still has much ice. As does Clear Lake just across the road. Surprise lake, the little body of water inside Crandon, has a little open shoreline, but is mostly ice. Lake Wabikon was open. The cold at the start of the week covered it with ice again. By the weekend, it was starting to open up again. The small and amazingly deep Lake Dawson, just to the north of Wabikon, remains completely iced in. Lucerne was iced tight behind the islands, but there was some open water off the southeastern shore. We're not sure what opened the lake here (some warmer runoff from the rain?), but it's a good start in clearing Lucerne of ice. Looking at the lake from the north it's clear we have a lot of frozen water to go before ice-out. Enough ice seems to be out of the ground under the roads to kickoff Load Limit season. We still have a small swatch of red dancing around the north end of the lake. It's sort of terrifying when it flies right at you. The squirrels on the north end of the lake continue to empty feeders, make weird noises, and plot evil. The lake got more snow before the week ended. It came down hard for a while, but stopped before any significant accumulation. It looks like the tapping season is coming to an end. There's still a few frozen chunks to melt and drips to collect, but the warmer weather and budding trees will end it soon. On Sunday, the open areas on the south were opener. The snow is mostly gone and there's that damp cold in the air that marks the end of tapping and the start of ice-out. It would be stunning if the lake ice lasts through next weekend. With all the rain and melt water flowing into the lake, the <a href='/LakeLevel/LL2.html' class ='defaultlink2' target='_blank'>lake level</a> may not fall as much as feared. We'll get a lake level check soon.<br><br><br>-Nemo's planning more fishing, sking, tennis, golf, and bar nights. Less sleep.

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