Winter's Detritus

At the start of last week, there was ice on the lake. We did not think that the ice would last through the weekend. Then the ouija board operators that forecast the weather around these parts suddenly dropped forecasted temperatures by 5°F to 10°F. At the end of the week, there were tales of late winter weather and only a little less ice.

The lake ice has been particularly tenacious on the north end.

Lucerne got some light snow during the day on Tuesday.

The time lapse camera was intended to capture the ice melting last week. Instead it recorded the ice whitening.

Before sunset, it started to snow harder.

Wednesday morning was covered in half a foot of fresh shovel filler.

When melted down, the lake was made 0.75 inches deeper than it was the day before.

Knott Lane went from springly to winteresque in less than 24 hours.

The strong wind that came with the snow swept the south end of the lake clear of ice.

With the more open water came more eagle sightings.

After the storm moved on and a blue sky rolled in, the south was open and the north end was getting there, but the north eastern and western shores were iced tight.

It should be further noted that the wind and wet nature of the remaining ice impeded much of the snow accumulation on the north end of Lucerne.

The ice on the north end has many strange holes. We are not sure if these were caused by old ice fishing holes or by darker objects, mostly leaves, that get heated by the sun and burn through the ice.

Budding trees seemed happy when the snow and gray was replaced by the sun and blue.

On Saturday, we flew to the south end of the lake to see if any ice remained in the shallows. There was a little, but it was gone by sunset.

Despite the open nature of the South end of Lucerne, nobody was spotted skiing.

The sunset on Saturday was a weird one. There must have been some ice high in the blue sky.

By the end of the week, Knott Lane was back to being all springly.

At the end of the week, the ice was in full retreat from the north shore. If not for the heaping helping of winter we got early in the week, many think the ice would have been just a cold memory by now. If April can avoid another winter convulsion, the ice will not be obstructing skiers for long. The only items that may impede skiers after the impending ice-out would be lack of a boat or a surplus of sanity (the water may be open but it'll be insanely cold). Until that first run, the golf course is open and there's always the race to get the piers, lifts, and boats in. The ice pulled away from the edge enough for a lake level check. The lake is up 1.25 inches since ice-in. That's down about a foot from last year. If the lake level continues to fall like it has for the last few years, it'll be at or below the nail soon. Place your piers and lifts accordingly. And no power loading at the launch!

-Nemo plans to get those ice-out checks mailed in the next day or two.

Winter's Detritus

April 1st through 7th, 2024