At Leech Lake -- October 27, 2010

Nothing.

Zilch. Nada.

For all the dire reports of a Winter Storm Warning yesterday, I thought I'd awake today to a blanket of snow covering the ground. But when I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and looked outside it was still very windy, and wet, yet there was no snow. Not a flake. So I went back to bed.

I got up again at 8:30 a.m. and still no snow. The wind is blowing at about 25 mph out of the WNW, not as strong as yesterday, there's light rain falling, and the temperature is 34 degrees. Sure, it's a cold, gray and wet Fall day, but it's surely nothing that warrants a Winter Storm Warning. And stop calling me Shirley.

After several hours of work calls -- including a new business win with a company called YoHolla -- I loaded the trash and recycling into the truck to take it down for disposal at the community center bins. On the way there I saw Norm Hansen out in front of his place clearing a fallen tree. I stopped and offered to help, but he had most of it already cleared and was in the final stages of moving a few smaller branches.

Apparently several people on the road had trees go down in the heavy winds during the past 36 hours including Jerry Schiebe and the Lichtennegger's; the later of whom were in Bemidji when a big tree fell and blocked access to their driveway. What a fun thing to find after returning home from town!

So far, no trees down on the lakeside properties here at the house and cabin. I'm sure there are trees down in the woods across the street, but I haven't ventured back there to find out.

The weather at 4:15 p.m. is windy -- probably 20-25 mph out of the WNW -- gray and overcast with a light rain, and a temperature of only 34 degrees. The weather service has now pushed out any snow forecast until late tonight or early tomorrow morning; but they were wrong about snow last night, so who knows...

I was on a call late this afternoon when I noticed two otters bobbing in the water just outside the harbor near the dock. They swam in the water for a while before disappearing. A minute or two later I saw one of the otters run across the yard near the harbor before jumping into the lake. It was nice to see a couple of the local animals for which this peninsula was named -- Ottertail Peninsula.

At 6:30 p.m.the winds have picked up and are now blowing more than 30 mph out of the WNW. The waves and white caps on the bay have really kicked up. The temperature is right at 32 degrees, so if it does start raining again there's a good chance it'll turn to snow. But no snow yet.

It's now 11:30 p.m. and I'm ready to shut down for the night. The wind is still at 25+ mph out of the WNW, the temperature is 32 degrees and there is a cold, light, stinging rain blowing parallel to the ground. Still no snow.

Until tomorrow, good night from Leech Lake.