Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for March 15, 2021

your pal’s probably sinking to the bottom of the water by now.

My parents would jump all over us for saying “I don’t think (something):” “You don’t think eh? How’s that working out for you…”

Though, if you’re denying global warming, “don’t think” seems to be appropriate.

A few years ago I was looking at a USGS map of the Arctic Circle from the 1940s. Some areas which were listed as “permanent pack ice” are now ice free for months on end.

The groundhog saw his shadow so there will be six more weeks of winter which would end today, March 15th. Well played Wiley.

They always told him he was on thin ice!

Why in the world would someone go “ice fishing” when you can buy all you want at the grocery store…or even make it yourself in your freezer?? /snark

Ice fishing. For guys who really, really don’t like their wives.

By the time I get the hole big enough for the boat, I’m too tired to fish.

I’ve read about 2 mass rescues of ice fishermen who fell thru the ice. Must be great fish, if you’re will to DIE for them!

There are places where an annual winter event is to drive an old pickup truck out onto the middle of a frozen lake and then place bets about when the ice will meld enough for the truck to fall through in the Spring. Not sure if the fishing is any good… Lake bottom is filling up with old pickup trucks.

Okay, I’m from Montana(originally) and I get trying to do stuff in the winter, but I have never understood ice fishing. Not only boring but freezing and, potentially, dangerous. Is anyone really that hungry for fish fingers and custard?

glug

It is odd feeling to read about the Midwestern storms. I am in the northern tier and over the past two weeks the temps have been mild without significant precipitation.

Currently about 90% of the lawn is exposed grass. Typically that might occur four or five weeks from now.

Looks more like he took an early fall. :)

The moral of this story…..don’t eat bean burritos the night before going ice fishing.

Ice out has been coming later and later, it seems. When I was a kid, there’d be people ice fishing through March. This year, DNR wanted all ice huts off the lakes in most of the state by the end of February; the northernmost part of the state has until March 18. (This isn’t just about safety; it’s also about the huts getting stuck in softening ice, making their removal impossible until the thaw, when they’d have to be fished up from the bottom.) Around here, in the Twin Cities, there’s still some ice on some lakes (especially ones that don’t get a lot of street runoff), but it’s very slushy and doesn’t cover the whole lake.

It’s those dang extra COVID pounds.

Nothing was predicted on groundhog day. Nothing ever has been.

It’s about time somebody broke the ice.

Spring always begins at the Vernal Equinox, regardless of what the groundhog says.

Be sure all you Ice Shackers in Paradise get your tickets for the annual Joe’s Pond Ice-Out pool! https://www.joespondvermont.com/ice-out-tickets.html

Glub…

I live near Minneapolis. When I first moved out here in the late 1960s, Winter began in late September. By mid-December, the temps at night were below zero. By about Christmas, the Daytime temps were below zero, and then we had 3 weeks or more of constant temps below zero. That didn’t let up until the late-January Chinook. Winter weather dragged on until sometime in late May or early June, when we finally saw the last of the snow. Contrast that to 50 years later, last year and this year, when we had a few nights of below-zero temps, and just two consecutive days of below-zero temps.

Also, I was raised in the Shenandoah Valley, Northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of WV. In the 1940s and 50s, typically, we wore sweaters up to Christmas. It snowed heavily 2 – 3 days before the holiday, usually the first snowfall. January was cold, but temps below zero were rare. By late February, snow was gone and forsythia, willows, and pussy-willows were starting to bud out. Late March, everything was in full growth and much was blooming. My wife and I just did a week-long vacation there. It was colder there than Minneapolis, all week. There is doubt that the cherry blossoms will be out for the traditional Spring festival.

I expect the climate change to continue to progress until Minneapolis is the new Summer vacation ‘go to’ spot, and the South is so rancidly hot that no one in their right mind would live there – even in Winter. Add that to the sea levels rising, and Florida may disappear almost entirely while Texas is reduced to half its former size.

The world climate patterns definitely are changing. Anyone who denies this is a nut case. Meanwhile the Human factor remains hotly debated. In the past 175 years, Man has dumped gigatons of chemicals into our air and water. Of course it has an effect, and we can’t just go on with ‘business as usual’. Two more Human issues – 1) overpopulation: we can’t continue the growth; 2) trash: Wall-E is in despair.