Way warmer than normal past October and

[noelH]

So far, November is running a good 10F warmer than normal for daytime highs. Most our night time lows have been warmer than the seasonal daytime highs. One reason might be that the surface water temp is still on the warmer side for this time of year. Low 40Fs out in the middle of western L. Superior today. The deeper waters of L. Superior have been trending warmer and warmer over the past few years. Even with a few Gale and Storm force wind days the churn has not dropped the surface water temp for over a month. I guess we need a prolonged Polar Vortex to keep the ice fisherman happy this season.

Use to fly r/c electric launch sailplanes on the ice off a beach ~3 miles by road from the house. Would wait until I see people driving out to their "secret" spot on their ATVs or snowmobiles. Haven't flown on the ice since pre-pandemic.  No ice or too thin and not extending more than half a mile or so from shore. One big swell. Good-by...

The good is I need to cut, split, and stack considerably less fire wood each year. Primary heat source is a electric powered thermal mass storage system. Octobers electric bill was 1/3 less than last year, which was less than year before. Basically my normal summer electric bill.   The bad is snowboarding season might not start until after Christmas again. Local ski hill invested in their first snowmaking hardware couple decades ago to boost natural snowfall to allow for opening no later than the 2nd weekend of December.  They still schedule that weekend as the hoped for beginning of the season. Remember the early 90's when you could break out your rock skis no later than early December.   Now just  Legends of the Old Days. Current generation think we old farts are just full of BS.