THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS

Glad to see, What is that apparatus [or some better word description] that is sitting on the dock?
 
I think those are cables spooled up to move the docks as water level changes.

About 20 miles up lake now. Flip flops and shorts not comfortable at 20mph yet! Brrrrrr! Nice when drifting though.
 
I thought they were synthetic gravity anchors. Mars has a different gravitational pull.
 
 
I'm happy with how fast winter is going by. My wife said this January has been the 15th coldest on record. I thought it has been pretty mild.... Hopefully we finaly breakout of this cold spell and have one hell of a hot summer.
 
71 here today.
 
 
 
I'd like to think we're on the down hill side of winter but with a forecasted high of 4 degrees on Sunday I'm reminded that spring won't be here until July.
 
Oh...I can jump in here with some optimism to help us through these last 50 days or so until April screams HELLO!

It is setting up to be a much easier spring this year than last. I can say this with immense confidence because the bar is sssoooo low. 

Last year, this was the Lake Michigan ice coverage.

 



And here is the ice coverage map for this year.



Last year, frost depth ran down to 50" in southern Wisconsin. Probably similar in MI.

This year, frost depth is probably not even 12".

Last year, inland lakes had ice thickness of 3' - 4'. This year, we're not even 1/2 that thickness.

If we can just get a bit of thawing temps in place and let the browns start to peek through, we'll have much warmer temps. Winter is no where near as deeply rooted this year as last. Once lakes are ice'd out - the color of the lake absorbs more heat. Once the snow coverage starts to thin out, the color of the ground absorbs more heat. Lake Michigan alone is holding at 34deg and the lack of ice is helping immensely! I'm optimistic!

I also bought my Powerball tickets for the very first time ever. Not sure why. I'm just feeling optimistic today.

:)
 
People in Boston are threatening The Groundhog with Mercenaries

The continuing snow, which had reached 78.5 inches by Wednesday, has vaulted winter 2014-2015 into the top 10 snowiest in Boston’s recorded history, according to the weather service. The worst was 1995-1996, with 107 inches.

58467605.jpg


I thought we had it bad !
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lake Michigan max'd out at about 88%. Superior was 100%. Great Lakes in total were 96%. South Lake Michigan was the holdout but still almost made it to full ice. The two images above are as close to a year apart as I had. Feb 14, 2014 compared to Feb 11, 2015.
 
So then we all agree.....this has been 2 crappy winters in a row. 
 
Crappy out west too but way different than you guys in the east. It's been in the 60's most days for a while now. Grass is growing, tulips are already nearly 6" out of the ground and my maple tree is budding. This is usually what April or May is like in Salt Lake and my yard is usually frozen right now. If it keeps up, our reservoirs won't be going up much this spring. Very strange....
 
Yeah, without the usual snow melt, our lake is down 81". I hope we get RAIN soon to help get the level up. I haven't seen the lake like this in 5 years.
 
Back
Top