Ridiculous...

[ctom]

Added another 8 inches yesterday. Bright, cold and WIND today. The snow started as pretty much flakes the size of .50 cent pieces mixed with rain. I went out at about 4" and blew snow off the properties I clear off. It should clear easier today having colder temps to pull the moisture out. I sure wish Denny would have kept this last bout of weather out there. He needs the moisture. I sure as heck have enough now.

[Slow Burn]

Sorry to hear about the snow again.  Like I said you should have made the trip down.  Im about to head out to East Matagorda Bay and chase those Specks and Reds on the south shoreline this afternoon since its 65 down here.  Hopefully I will have some pics to show off on Monday.  You guys stay warm.

[ctom]

I was wrong. It took almost three hours to clear what I regularly do in and hour and a half. Maybe another 3-4 inches fell after I cleared things last night. Murderous, froze down, hard-crusted crap just didn't want to help out at all. Even in the lowest gear and in posi-trac the blower base would climb uo and ride over the crusted crap. It took as many as 4 passes to finally break the crust enough to let the blower get under it and scratch off to concrete.

[efishnc]

Yeah, I pretty much have a new driveway (about two inches taller than the one I had the day before yesterday) and it might as well be concrete... it's going nowhere!

[efishnc]

It is essentially the same ice as on the lake... there is no shovel, snow-blower or 4WD with a plow that will break its grip. 

I watched my neighbor try to clear his driveway with his plow truck around lunch time and he did nothing but waste gas.  It was almost humorous to watch, but it's hard to laugh when I have the same problem.

[ctom]

I think this crap is the worst I've seen in many years. Last May's dumping was 17 inches but it was gone in two days. We have highways closed and those that remain open are seeing travel at a snail's pace. Then the wind....

We were planning to travel to the grandson's last conference game tomorrow...about 125 miles. All of the roads, highways and interstates are under no travel warnings.

[pjmcla]

Unfortunately; it sounds like you got the "snow" we normally get down here.  Very seldom just snow.  Freezing rain, then sleet then snow.  Temps then fall below freezing overnight and a bumpy ice rink in the morning.

[efishnc]

I think this crap is the worst I've seen in many years. Last May's dumping was 17 inches but it was gone in two days. We have highways closed and those that remain open are seeing travel at a snail's pace. Then the wind....

96-97 was a bad winter as well with 21 days straight never getting above zero; it's the worst I can remember (prior to this).  Last week I heard this winter is worst we've had since the 1970s, but after this week (or whenever the cold weather actually ends), I wonder if we will have to go back even farther  to find a colder winter.  Our frost has set in over 7ft this year and it is generally about 4ft... if this is global warming, who is getting the warming that is being taken from us?

Well, it's not looking like we'll have summer this year - just month or two of thin ice around July before we can set tip-ups again.

[Whale Weights]

How bad do you think the floods are going to be when all that snow melts? Going to be awhile before I will be able to fish the rivers around here.

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I've been pondering the snow-melt rush, myself, WW.

[efishnc]

Any flood will depend on how fast it gets warm, how warm it actually gets, how long it is sustained, and if we get measurable precipitation in conjunction with the melting. 

According to NOAA, we have 4-6 inches of equivalent water sitting as snow right now in the river valley; some of the northern portions of MN & WI have 10 inches of equivalent water sitting as snow, and there is always a chance for more snow at this time of year - or rain, which melts snow and ice with extreme efficiency.  If we have a slow warm up we will be fine, but if the temps go straight to the "normal" range, it will be a rapid warm-up and we got the making for an above average flood this year. 

My gut feeling is we will hit "normal" temps before the month is out, and the gates (on the Mississippi dams) will come out of the water in short order... but the problem right now is we have to get warm enough to melt before the water can flow.

[ctom]

We've had rain all morning here. Its finally stopped but they say a chance of some snow flurries lingers.  The stream behind the house has finally broken free of shelf ice and is now running clean and free clear down to the river a couple hundred yards from here. The river has had some open water all winter due to geese, but now the river 's ice is showing signs of giving up the ghost so this boy is hap, hap, happy.

They're also saying that tonight and tomorrow will be cooler than the last few days that do this thawing going but its supposed to warm again on Thursday, into the mid 40's again. Hallelujah to that. I'm almost inspired to take a drive out to the lake to see if any ice is disappearing out there. I filled the garage with outboard exhaust a while ago so I know the float is set to go. So many places I think I need to be fishing, so darned hard to wait. I might have to go to the big river to scratch this itch.

[DF]

 Looking at 5-8 in. of snow wed. with 30mph winds here in southern MI. not fun after 2 days in the 40s. Should have taken up ice fishing this year!

[Denny Welch]

70's today and sunshine...calling for 80's this weekend and more sunshine.

[ctom]

And evaporation.