Two days before the latest snow and ice, there were small boats with fishermen who were fishing along the shore. No matter the current state of spring, come July the harbor will be filled with sailboats. We hope.
It was 65 degrees F at the end of the Gunflint Trail on Friday, April 21, and I saw my first butterfly of the year. It was 72F in Duluth the next day. T-shirt and shorts weather. Spring was really here. It felt great. Flowers were blooming in my mother’s garden, up on 8th Avenue in town. Robins were back in yards bobbing for food, the lakes were free of ice, plows disappeared from pick-up trucks, winter had retreated, and spring was here.
Or so I thought.
Sunday temperatures were back into the 40s and Monday and Tuesday it got a little colder. A jittery rain fell Tuesday evening. By the next morning it had turned to snow in some places, slush in others and ice coated trees, power lines, cars, and roads… And for the first time this year school was cancelled.
The emergency weather local forecast for April 26 read in part “Ice storms for parts of Arrowhead today… and a wintry mixture for other parts of Northeast Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin.”
As much as three-quarters of an inch of icing could accumulate from freezing rain, said the forecast. Gusty north to northeast winds, up to 30 miles per hour, might bring down power lines. Treacherous driving conditions for a motorist as ice and snow accumulates was forecast.
Thursday’s weather prediction wasn’t much better. Cloudy with a high of 29. Snow with a mixture of rain. Snow accumulation of less than one inch.
Friday, April 28, will come with a slight chance of snow and rain. It looks to be mostly cloudy with a high of 39. Saturday we will get some sun with a high near 46, a low of around 25. But Sunday and Monday’s forecast is for more snow and rain. Monday is May 1st. So much for April showers bring May flowers. This year at least in early May, the flowers are protesting. And I’m joining them.
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