Date: 03/19/2012

Number: 1

Lake Wissota, near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin


"Ice out on Lake Wissota came on Monday, March 19. My good neighbor Dick Howard commented that it was the earliest he had seen the ice leave the lake in his 40-plus years on the lake. I invite old-timers to comment on when they recall an earlier time.



I have often said ice out is a process, not an event. However, this is one of the rare years when ice out came on a particular day, universally around the lake. Usually some bays are open while others are not, sheets of ice float around the lake for days, and ice out varies from one part of the lake to another. Not this year.



The warm temperatures melted the ice cover quickly. It was less than three weeks between ice fishing shacks on the lake and totally open water. The ice just got thinner and thinner every day, darkening in the last few days before St. Patrick's Day. Then ice covering that was there on Monday morning was gone on Monday afternoon."








Read the article and thanks to Mark Gunderman of the Chippewa Herald on chippewa.com in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Chippewa Falls, WI

Latitude: 44.9 Longitude: -91.3

Observed by:
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.