Brian D

Some light snow moving through the area. Could be a little frz drizzle later, too. Maybe a couple inches to the areas north of me, but nice to have temps in the 20's here.

Here's the ice maps today from Canadian Ice Service. The ice is moving quite a bit, and new has been forming as well. These maps are close to what I can see on visible/IR sat images the last couple days.

Good call, but not quite as cold as I thought it would be for V-Day. Sure was the 2 days before it tho, but still cold enough.

Damn computer acting up today, running in safe mode. Anyway, temps were very cold again this morning like yesterday morning. -30's away from the lake. Probably a -40 in there, too. Near record/ poss record cold again. Looks like a dusting of snow starting to move in right now. Will help keep temps up tonight, but still below zero.

I bet. Didn't look at all stations I could, but the conditions are just right for temps to be that cold.

-15 to -25 near the Lake, with -30's well inland. Very calm winds this morning allowing temps to drop. Very similar to last year at this time. Near record lows, again, away from the lake. A lot less sea smoke visible over the lake this morning. Ice building quickly under very cold, calm conditions. Highs running -5/5 today around the area. Another cold one on tap for tomorrow.

Do you clear off your roof once or twice a season? Strange that deer not herded with the others. Nice guy to help it out. Deer migrate to the shore here, too. Regular herd in town can be quite tame. People have many times fed them right from their hands. I have regular deer running up and down my ave. Gets a little bigger every year with the new fawns. In Nov, bucks running up and down the ave. looking for them. They instituted a bow season here in town in select locations to keep the herd here manageable. Duluth does the same. The herd gets to big, and destructive, and can cause accidents. Illegal to feed them in town, too. It's ok to do that outside the town limits, tho, and some folks do.

Winds from the N have slackened quite a bit. Now a large area of LES has developed over the head of the Lake. Getting in on some of that right now, but it's rather light. Very fine snow.

Was just going to post like I did last time, but Chicago Storm beat me to it. Been waiting for this for you guys. I knew something was up for mid Feb. Here's to a good pounding.

Very windy again today with NW winds up to 40-45 mph. CAA snow showers moving through as well. Temps have dropped 10dF in 2 hrs, from low 20's to low teens this morning. Another round of brutal cold on tap. Lake ice will probably build a little quicker this time around as winds will be fairly calm the next couple days. Open water temps near freezing.

Main snow is over with about 3" it looks like. Maybe 4". Snowed pretty good in that short time. No reports around the area yet. Edit: reports coming in show 3-4" around here with 4-6" possibly more further up the shore.

Winter does get old, if it weren't for the milder Dec this season, I would be long ready for milder weather. Come March, tho, always ready to see it end. Days are longer, and looking forward to spring temps. But a good ol' fashioned blizzard is ok in my book, even if it's April.

Snow moved in. Mod snow bands with a little heavier stuff mixed in. Nice sized flakes.

3-6" of wet snow forecast here. Heaviest will fall early, then light snows after with a little freezing drizzle possible in the mix. Then temps drop tomorrow, and turn it rock hard. Yesterday, the winds sure were amped, running up to 40 mph. Been a windy winter this year. Many times winds up to 40-45 mph after low/front passages. And as @weatherbo mentioned, U.P. in for LES starting around Hurley/Ironwood eastward with 8-12" or more along the favored snow belts. Looks like Ironwood picked up 10" yesterday from LES. More to come.

The next few weeks, well into March, really looks like a roller coaster ride to me with my modelling method. That should keep things quite interesting.

Yeah, its pretty quiet for the southern sub, but I still think somethings up mid Feb.

Back in the 90's, Mn made a new law that requires anyone needing rescue from lake superior ice will be charged for the expense of having to rescue them. Too many times, people were going to far out, and not paying attention. Now, hardly ever do we have a situation like that here. Folks bring rafts, or kayaks, canoes, etc just in case. Ice fishing is a big deal when the ice forms, mainly down in Duluth.

Yeah, the ice movement early season, with new forming fast. I looked at vis for 28th, and there is ice in the area ice map shows (with what little is visible), so the other issue is, are daily maps for prior day ice? Because its sure starting to seem that way. They would have a full suite of data for the prior day, then they list it as that day when they do their work ups? Ice moves, and forms fast here too. So until it becomes high percentage, hard too tell. And just one open patch can allow for LES. See that here, too. If I would have caught their 30th ice maps, probably would have had that big opening. Something to track day by day to see how that goes, but early ice season is a fast changing season, and a snapshot of a very fluid situation doesn't tell the whole story.

Looks like the ice maps were right. The above image on Jan 29 looks like open water, but it isn't. It's new, clear ice. Two days later after some light snow on Jan 30, this is what you see on Jan 31. They have radar sat to see what vis sat can't. They aren't perfect, but not that far off.

20's n 30's for the coming week will feel nice before the next cold wave hits. Add in a little snow there, too. In the fall, those temps are colder than sin, yet after bitter waves, its pleasant.

Snow is winding down. Looks to be 4-5" around the area with 6-10" up around Lutsen, and Grand Marais. Nice powder to take the dirty look away for a little while. Couple more chances for light-mod snow next week looks like. Edit: Looks like 3-6" between here and Duluth, and 6-12" up the shore to the border.

Another thing of interest, is the chart below showing drought conditions were more prevalent in the 1850's-60's, especially the western US, where it was being hit pretty hard. Just some more cool history.

Here's a look at last months rankings, and anomaly chart for our region. Been a few years since we had a really chilly Jan. The last time was 2014, although 2019 had its moments. A state record low for Illinois, if I remember correctly, at the end of the month. As cooler as we were, our neighbors just west of us in the plains had milder conditions, especially the afternoon highs. Easy to see where the jet liked to set up. This time around, because of the mostly below normal conditions for the north central US, I switched to ranking from the cold side. 2021 was so warm, always had to rank from the warm end, with a few exceptions.

Light snow this morning as clipper moves in. Some mod snow bands starting to develop. A general 3-6" with a little more around Grand Marais with the help of the Lake. This is so much better than bitter.

Starting to look like MBY.