Lake Mildred Area
MARCH 30 - ICE-OUT! High winds and thin ice led to the ice going out substantially today. By 1 PM the lake was probably 85% open water, with large patches of crystallized rotten ice floating to the East.
LAKE LEVEL DOWN It's good to note that the lake level has now fallen even further than it appeared earlier, and may now be down about 6" since last Fall.
EARLY ICE-OUT TRENDS - Also notable that this "March Ice-Out" is the 5th time in the past 20 years that the ice went out before April. Our records going back to the 1970s show no pre-April ice-outs until the year 2000. Almost like (dare we say it?) the climate is changing.
MARCH 23 - MORE SIGNS OF SPRING Spring seems to have 'sprung' quite suddenly, but the signs are all around us: the annual bird migration is underway, with blackbirds, juncos and others appearing for the first time since last Fall; the Goldfinches are changing colors as the males bright yellow feathers start to appear; small waterbugs are appearing near shore; the 'croak' of a spring peeper near the pond really flummoxed our puppy.
FALLING LAKE LEVEL! We don't have exact measurements yet, but the lake level appears to have fallen by several inches since last fall. That's great news for the shorelines battered by boat wakes and record high water levels never before seen.
MARCH 22 - IS IT *REALLY* SPRING??? The recent warm weather (plus the fact it is technically "spring"!), makes us think that Spring is really truly honestly here. Open water is starting to appear in small patches on South facing shorelines (see the photo above). Plus yesterday we unbelievably saw a turtle quickly scoot near open water that was only a few inches deep while 99.9% of the lake is ice covered. And this morning I swear I heard a robin. Ahhhh!
MARCH 21 - THE ICE THAW BEGINS (we hope) - Finally Some Open Water - Bringing out her "inner labrador", Ruby Tuesday (Ebben) had to jump into ice cold and small patch of open water on March 21.
FEBRUARY 14 - BITTER COLD FEBRUARY - A big change from January's weather; this past week has barely risen above 0 degree highs, and weather danger alerts are almost daily, warning of wind chills of -40. Day after day. Time to catch up on your reading.
JANUARY 28 - Susan & Richard Nelson caught this bright yellow "Wolf Moon" on Jan. 28 just before it disappeared behind the clouds.
JANUARY 25 - MILD JANUARY CONTINUES - Not much snow for the snowmobilers, and not as much ice on the lake as usual (about a foot of ice right now, in most places) but the roughly 8 inches of snow now on the ground is enough for a little XC skiing or snowshoeing, or even walking on the lake (especially if you walk in the packed down snowmobile/ATV tracks).
2020 (Really, this year should just be erased!)
DECEMBER 1 - LAKE MILDRED FROZE OVER LAST NIGHT - After a couple weeks of light freezes and partly frozen bays, last night the lake surface finally froze completely over. Whether it stays frozen or not is another matter, but given the current forecast, it just might.
STAN STRUB'S WATER LEVEL CHART >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
??? - CLEAR LAKE ROAD NEEDS CULVERT? Now that the water is high, it has become quite obvious that when Clear Lake Road was constructed & filled across the natural Clear Lake/Maud Lake channel or wetland -without a culvert- then Maud Lake & Clear Lake were "cut off" from each other by the road filling. It certainly appears that there should be a culvert put in place so that the natural ebb & flow of water connecting the two water bodies was restored. 100 years ago we didn't realize the effect that our bulldozing and road filling had on neighboring water bodies. We do now. Looking at an overhead view of the area (such as the County GIS map) shows that Maud Lake was clearly part of the Mildred "Chain" of lakes.
> SEEING A LOT OF THESE SIGNS
AROUND LAKE MILDRED & CLEAR LAKE
Everyone who joins LMPOA receives
one of these blue signs and the bolts
to mount it on the fire number pole.
Joining LMPOA is a great way to help
protect and preserve Lakes Mildred
and Clear for future generations.
2021 LAKE MILDRED HOMES FOR SALE - You can see the latest listings at the
"Real Estate for Sale" page, or by clicking
HERE.
GANGS IN THE STREET - This photo is from several years ago, but we still love Bonnie Draeger's photo of a large bear family checking out a house that was for sale near Lake Mildred.
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