8:00 am temp: 8
Yesterday: 29/8
Normal: 29/15
Plenty of snow out there, and the most ice we’ve seen yet this year on the lake.
We got 8 inches of new, fluffy snow in about an hour on Friday evening. It’s made for great skiing.
Today is going to be sunny, cold, and beautiful. Forecast high of 11 with wind chill of minus 10. We’re headed out for a day of cross country skiing.
8:00 am temp: 14
Yesterday: 32/17
Normal: 29/14
Corn spilled along the train tracks
This morning I saw a young doe get hit by the train. It was the Amtrak train that hit her, but she was on the tracks feeding on corn spilled from a freight train.
We went down and dragged her body off the tracks and called the food bank to see if they could come harvest the meat.
Rest in peace girl, you just didn’t understand about trains.
14 ° Continue reading
8:00 am temp: 12
Yesterday: 11/3
Normal: 30/17
Ice has started forming along the edges of the lake.
Looking out toward the street this morning.
The ice grows mostly at night. It started three days ago, and each day it extends farther out into the lake. Already more of the lake is covered with ice than at any point last winter.
It warmed up to 12 at our house yesterday, so Tess and I resumed our mid-day walks. A couple weeks ago that would have seemed cold.
This morning we woke up to 7 or 8 inches of fluffy snow and big flakes coming down.
8:00 am temp: 6
Yesterday: 8/-14
Normal: 31/17
Well, I didn’t hibernate yesterday after all. The sun came out and we were lured outside to try skating on the Whitefish River.
There was good, thick ice on the river. Steve chopped a couple holes with his hatchet and at about 4 inches down there was still no sign of water. The surface was pretty good, slightly bumpy, and there was a thin layer of snow on top.
We skated for miles, the only ones on the river, except for…the person who had planted the idea, Don Scharfe, and his wife. I forgot my camera, so above is a video Steve shot.
I enjoyed the changing views and the quiet of cruising down the river. There’s snow in the forecast, which may mean the end of ice skating, but there could be some good skiing on the river ahead this winter.
8:00 am temp: -5
Yesterday: 4/-13
Normal: 31/17
Thin sheets of ice collect along the shore
I came home last night around 11:30. It was -10 at our house. It took a while to warm up my toes. I’m hunkered down at home today.
We saw the first signs of ice forming on the lake yesterday, thin sheets that the wind had pushed up against the shore.
A friend who lives south of town told me she saw what looked like a big cloud yesterday morning, which was the plume of steam coming off the lake. It’s amazing how long it takes, even in this severe cold, for the water temperature in the lake to drop to freezing.
Forecast for tonight, Dec. 6
Tonight’s forecast contains some numbers we don’t see very often. Minus 46 F, wonder what that feels like. Should I venture outside in the night to find out?
8:00 am temp: 1
Yesterday: 18/-4
Normal: 32/18
Steam rising off the lake this morning. It was 2 degrees F according to our thermometer.
It’s been cold here this week, and will get even colder. A second Arctic front is expected to arrive tomorrow, bringing wind and lows of -16 and -19 F the next couple nights. That’s serious winter the likes of which we haven’t seen in several years.
I’m thinking it looks good for the lake to freeze this year. That usually means some good skiing.
8:00 am temp: 30
Yesterday: 29/26
Normal: 20/27
Just a typical winter day at State Park. Tess and I decided to forego the swimming.
There was a fine, light snow falling today. More in the forecast the next few days, along with a cold front. Calling for a low of -3 Fahrenheit Wednesday. Last year we didn’t have any subzero weather.
We’re headed to the town of Hot Springs, where even if we don’t see the sun we can sit outdoors and soak in hot mineral water. It’s a good winter coping technique.
8:00 AM temp: 21
Yesterday: 28/23
Normal: 34/21
Four-legged icicle.
There were some interesting ice formations along the edge of Whitefish Lake yesterday.
What a beautiful planet we live on.
8:00 AM temp: 30
Yesterday: 44/16
Normal: 47/26
A February morning on the mountain
Despite the mild winter, the local ski hill has had a pretty good snow year. As of today, Whitefish Mountain Resort, formerly known as The Big Mountain, has a snowpack of 112 inches (285 cm) at the summit (elevation 6817 ft or 2078 m), and 30 inches (77 cm) at the village area (elevation 4464 ft or 1361 m). That’s a little less at the bottom of the hill than in recent years, but very respectable at the summit.
Most of the lifts and ski runs are on south-facing slopes, which may make the area particularly vulnerable to warming temperatures in coming years. Fingers crossed that we have many more winters of skiing there.
8:00 AM temp: 45
Yesterday: 54/30
Normal: 45/25
For Tess it’s swimming season again. For the rest of us…well, we’ll wait.
The ice by City Beach shrank noticeably the past couple days, but hasn’t broken up yet. Usually the Whitefish Lake Institute has a fundraiser where they suspend a large rock above the ice and people guess which day in the spring the ice will melt enough that the rock falls into the water. Typically that day is in April, but that part of the lake never froze this year.
Current temp: 33
Looking out the living room window this morning at the mostly unfrozen lake
Usually we’d be skiing on the lake this time of year, and people crazier and more patient than me would be ice fishing. But, for the first time anyone around here can remember, the lake is too liquid to support humanoids of any kind. We’ve been watching out the living room window since early January, which is around the time the freeze usually occurs. Steve, who loves to skate on “wild ice,” tries to catch the short window after the ice forms and before the snow is too deep for skates to push through. Now in March, with only the bay around City Beach sporting any respectable covering of ice, we have to admit we are watching a scary kind of history unfold.
By any local standards, it’s been a mild winter. It didn’t dip below zero even once, and there was only a two-week period in January where the temperature stayed below freezing 24 hours a day. Most of the winter it’s been popping up into melting territory during the day, transforming the packed snow on the roads into a thick crust of…hey…ICE…
Backyard Climate Report 