A look at Week 5 of Ice Boating in Minnesota... Pepin is reported Perfect!
I took my DN off the car roof this morning, for first time in a month, when not sailing. They say they're having a Blizzard in the Alexandria/Fergus Falls areas right now... expecting 8-12 inches of snow, gusting to 40 mph today.
I'm glad we're not having a regatta up there right now... "Dangerous blizzard conditions will continue to ravage the northern Plains today. Strong winds, heavy snow and extreme cold will bring travel to a standstill across the Dakotas and much of Minnesota. Across northern Minnesota, 6-12 inches of fresh snowfall is expected as windswept snow will reduce visibilities to near zero at times. All unnecessary travel should be avoided as many roadways will be closed due to these extreme conditions. Those that must travel are strongly urged to pack a winter survival kit."
While we're going to see way too much snow in most of the state, there are some silver linings...
Notably I'm bettin on Lake Pepin... the Zamboini's been out for the last 40 hours or so..., working on the 2 inches of snow currently on the lake(as of this post) still 40 d F. with light rain, looking at less than 1/2 inch of snowfall accumulation... there was a plan to set up some of their big boats yesterday.
This will be the first ice report we'll be looking for tomorrow after the front's passed...
Additionally, Okoboji, IA was looking sweet yesterday, and they're not expecting a lot of snow with this system in that area.
Oh and "our gift" to Wisconsin, Cold... the Arctic air that flows in on the back side of this low system will freeze the lakes around Madison this week... setting the stage for a perfect Courier & Ives Christmas on Mendota... or Pepin.
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Friday, Week 5, Sailing Tomorrow!
And the weatherman says...
"IN THE WAKE OF THE WEEKEND STORM...HIGH PRESSURE WILL SETTLE IN FOR MONDAY ALONG WITH BITTERLY COLD ARCTIC AIR. LOWS MONDAY MORNING WILL BE WELL BELOW ZERO. THE WEEK AHEAD REMAINS ACTIVE WITH LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS MOVING ACROSS THE REGION TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AND THEN AGAIN THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOW LOOKS LIKELY WITH BOTH. LOWS/HIGHS TO REMAIN BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD." http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=MPX&product=AF...
By Mark Kiefer,
I walked about a mile triangle on Lake Phalen at noon Dec. 19. out from the Beach House at Phalen Park, to fishermen 1/3 mile SE and then straight north to a portable fish house about 1/3 mile. Further, did a 100 yard walk-out from the public lake access on the north shore with similar snow coverage conditions observed.
The ice at the three places I made observations was uniformly 7.5 – 8.5 inches. This ice is 6” optically clear “green” ice and say 1.5- 2” of snow-ice of varying whiteness. (for structural purposes I’d call it 5.5 inches of grade 9 clear ice and 1.5 inches of grade 3 snow ice.
Observed hazards: ice fishing hole slag piles are a little tall and hard, these primarily hand auger piles will touch a plank or launch a boat and might be hard to see at speed.
Covering the ice is 1.5 – 3.5 inches of moderately light snow with a very intermittent 4-5 inch drift, the lake would support sailing with enough breeze.
6 inches of snow is forecast over the weekend, depending on how the front seems to be approaching...
Based on what I saw, it’s possible to set up and sail here. I may attempt to sail this lake tomorrow, for no other reason than fun in some fluff. (Saturday) decision at sunrise, posted at both WIRC and Iceboating.net webpages.
(EDIT), WTF, I'm going sailin... be at the North Access of Phalen at 1000 local time, they'd sail a Worlds on ice like this(day 2).
Amusingly, both fishermen I spoke with were already aware of the Ice Racing Event at Phalen and pretty excited to watch it.
© 2008 World Ice Racing Circuit, LLC. Excelsior, MN All Rights Reserved
Snow
National Weather Service Forecast Discussion this morning says; "VERY ACTIVE WINTRY PATTERN TO CONTINUE UNTIL XMAS WITH SEVERAL WEATHER SYSTEMS LINING UP TO BRING MORE SNOW TO THE AREA....NICE TO HAVE A REAL WINTER FOR A CHANGE."
http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=MPX&product=AF...
Looking at current snow cover, and forecast for the week inlcuding a snow event every other day, it looks like we'll be racin on a short course or we won't be racing in Minnesota right now.
Pepin Has Clear Ice RIGHT NOW.
A phone call to the Pickel Factory in Pepin WI... as of the time of this post: "It's clear ice, absolutely no snow"
Ed Newcomb reports,
Mark,
By Sunday morning the lake was clear and we had a little rain before noon. Not much for noticeable snow last night. Saturday there was approximately 5" of ice at Pepin.
Regards
Ed
of course there probably won't be a lot of sailing Tuesday...
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around -19. Wind chill values between -22 and -27. West wind between 6 and 9 mph becoming calm.
Tuesday: Snow likely, mainly after noon. Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 4. Wind chill values between -22 and -32. Calm wind becoming east southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
Don't leave the chiuauah outside too long...
CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
1038 AM CST SUN DEC 14 2008
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.
THE MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAS DECLARED THAT
INTERSTATE 94 FROM MOORHEAD TO FERGUS FALLS...UNITED STATES ROUTE 10 FROM MOORHEAD TO DETROIT LAKES...AND STATE ROUTE 210 FROM FERGUS FALLS TO BRECKENRIDGE HAS BEEN CLOSED.
http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=mpx&wwa=civil%20eme...