Major heat wave

Keweenaw Bay, 2014

When I came stumbling downstairs a few minutes ago, it was not quite 18 below outside. Just glanced over at the indoor/outdoor thermometer and it's reading a mere minus 12 and climbing. If it's climbing a degree every two minutes, by the time the sun comes up, it'll be bikini weather.

It has been a warmer than usual winter. I haven't seen it dip below minus 20 at all (yet), and we've had more "thaws" than is typical for the U.P. The local ice fishermen are unhappy because Keweenaw Bay is slow in freezing over. Thin ice has started forming a couple times, but then a strong north wind comes along, breaks it up, and pushes it ashore. This is definitely going to be one of those years where the ice fishermen will be lucky to get in any fishing at all. They had a couple good years; it's time for a winter where all they can do is stand on the shoreline and think bitter thoughts about the money they wasted by building a new fishing shack over the summer or investing in a new canvas shelter. .

The S.O. goes ice fishing with a friend, but he's not a fanatic about it. But then he's not a fanatic about fishing in general. He buys a license every year, but it doesn't get used much even in the summer. If we had to live off the fish he's caught, we'd starve to death pretty quickly.