Weather & Ice

Drove I-94 through all of MN … Today.

Plenty of open water on most all lakes Twin Cities through Alexandria.

And… it’s raining this morning in Forest Lake

lindyrig79 wrote:

And… it’s raining this morning in Forest Lake

lindyrig79 wrote:

And… it’s raining this morning in Forest Lake

I’m in lino, no rain here

Thankfully it’s looking like that large system early next week is setting up to be a close miss just to our South and East. If the models hold true, some places South of here and into WI are going to get some significant snow.

If we put 8″+ of heavy snow on any lakes that are barely capped over have a couple inches of ice, that’d just about be a death sentence to the season.

Found some good ice this weekend in Brainerd Lakes about 7″ of ice.

Drove past Waconia this morning and plenty of whitecaps rolling out there.

Forest Lake and Clear Lake off 35 are both wide open

Pretty crazy that there is open water on lots of lakes in the cities to start off 2024 but a few hours north there is 10 inches of solid ice and after the cool down this week there will likely be trucks out (not me) by this weekend.

Hopefully the snow continues to hold off for awhile.

Yea it looks like after tonight most smaller metro lakes will be recapped over and by next weekend most larger ones will as well. Still crazy as that puts us into almost mid Jan. Though ice can build real fast if the forecast holds and it doesn’t snow. I could see guys driving on smaller lakes in the metro by third week in January.

Mille Lacs was locked up along the north shore this AM… I predict ATV travel this weekend will be feasible.

Rice Lake along 94 in Maple Grove was wide open today. Not a speck of ice out there yet.

I can only wonder how much of a zoo it’s going to be on popular metro lakes when it’s finally good to go out. With the compressed season, people are going to be swarming it over the few good weekends we will have. Same with URL and LOTW. Can only imagine the parade of wheelhouses going up 94 starting this weekend.

The massive low pressure system coming across the middle of the country next Monday is supposed to stay south of here. The bullseye is Chicago.

Another system coming out of the Rockies next Thursday though. That one may drop measurable snow here. Forecast is finally starting to resemble winter again.

gimruis wrote:

The massive low pressure system coming across the middle of the country next Monday is supposed to stay south of here. The bullseye is Chicago.

Another system coming out of the Rockies next Thursday though. That one may drop measurable snow here. Forecast is finally starting to resemble winter again.

Thanks Bel! I stopped watching the weather, and just check your posts. Usually more accurate than the professionals!

A close second to gimruis is WeatherUnderground, good site.

They’ve updated the route of the incoming low pressure system to our south. Some of it will indeed fall as snow in the southern half of the state. Southwest MN is projected to get 5-8 inches of snow and there is a winter storm advisory in place. 2-4 inches is also possible in the metro area by Tuesday morning.

The system on Thurs/Fri is still projected to miss MN and slide south.

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My phone alerted me to a “Winter Storm Watch” for our area. The same outlet then talked about 2-4″ of snow accumulation.

If that’s a Winter Storm Watch, then what is a Winter Weather Advisory for? …if it looks like it might snow but won’t? If you study the sky carefully and can see stray flakes?

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We were fishing in willow river this weekend, yeah it was about 4″ in good spots.

Any first hand ice reports from the Brainerd area?

lindyrig79 wrote:

Any first hand ice reports from the Brainerd area?

Crosslake and the smaller lakes I am hitting 7-9″ The Big lakes I have no idea.

Charles wrote:

The Big lakes I have no idea.

I was in Brainerd for xmas and Gull Lake was still wide open water. Bear in mind this was about 2 weeks ago, and then we got some rain. Wouldn’t surprise me if its still at least partially open.

I was on mille lacs saturday and there was 7-10” where we were. In the metro I wouldnt trust big lakes until after this weekend.

I was in Fergus Falls on Thursday. Most everything on the way there and back was open water except the smalller ‘sloughs”

Charles wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
Any first hand ice reports from the Brainerd area?

Crosslake and the smaller lakes I am hitting 7-9″ The Big lakes I have no idea.

Thanks. Yes, I looking for the small to medium lakes around Brainerd.

crappie55369 wrote:

Not a fan of this weather at all. Who the heck wants a brown 35 degree day.

ME! ME! ME! If I have to suffer through cold and can’t live in the tropics, I’d happily have a 30-40 degree snowless winter.

If a lake is partially wide open now, generally, how much ice will this cold weather that is coming make in a week?

Wade Boardman wrote:

ME! ME! ME! If I have to suffer through cold and can’t live in the tropics, I’d happily have a 30-40 degree snowless winter.

X2 Wade.