Ice-Out Week

April 8th through 14th, 2024

Lake Lucerne
Last week started with ice covering about a quarter of Lucerne. That ice had many cracks, holes, and was not very thick. It would not make it to the weekend.
Lake Lucerne
The ice holes were numerous and spidery.
Lake Lucerne
A breeze on Monday started to push the ice into the northwest shore.
Lake Lucerne
The start of the week also had a solar eclipse. That, and lots of clouds.
Lake Lucerne
On Tuesday, the remaining ice broke loose from the shore and started to move.
Lake Lucerne
Some of the ice blew to shore. It was not very thick.
Lake Lucerne
On Wednesday morning, only a small patch of ice remained.
Lake Lucerne
The wind pickup up and the patch crashed into the northwest corner of the lake. Only a few hours later, it was gone.
Lake Lucerne
The next day it clouded up a little, the wind died, and Lucerne got really flat.
Lake Lucerne
A few days later, the first piers went in.
Lake Lucerne
Local wildlife reacted to the eclipse and ice-out by pretty much ignoring the events.
Lake Lucerne
On the north end of Lucerne, the rude geese are back honking up the air, pooping up the lawn, and mooning the occasional passerby.
Lake Lucerne
On the weekend, the lake temperature rose to 47°F. Nobody skied. Nobody swam.
Lake Lucerne
On Saturday just after sunset, we got a good thunderstorm. By Sunday morning, the lake was a quarter of an inch deeper.
Lake Lucerne
At the very end of the week, Crandon Water Shows had another indoor practice.
Lake Lucerne
The first show is just over 7 weeks away.
Lake Lucerne
Local ponds, puddles, and ditches are at peak frog. That goes double for the NCC golf course.
Lake Lucerne
On the golf course, the only thing louder than the ceaseless frog noise was the occasional low flying rotorcraft.
Lake Lucerne
The first flowers are popping up.
Lake Lucerne
At the end of the week, the back nine opened at the NCC golf course. It was a little damp and filled with single and double bogeys.
Lake Lucerne
Congratulations to the winners of this year's ice-out contest! It'll be nice that this year's opening day of fishing season won't be contaminated by lake ice. In addition to the lack of ice and abundance of cold, the lake water is unusually clear. We are hoping it stays that way. There's little that's more fun than watching logs, rocks, and cribs fly by under your feet during a ski run.


-Nemo is pushing for more skiing, less injuries in 2024.