up-coming storm

[CTom]

Gee....this one covers something from New Mexico to Michigan, what 9 - 10 states? It sounds as though its going to have all the elements for a cold hell...heavy snow, wind, cold. Our local weather here in SE Minnesota said last night that we were going to be in a fringe for the most part with maybe 1-2 inches and possible 2-4 inches if the storm tracks a hair further north. I can handle that, but those living in central to lower Iowa are going to get pummeled.

We had clouds yesterday and just a light dusting of snow the evening before and then we find out listening to the news and weather at 10 last night that 15 miles south of us they had tons of white fall all day. Never so much as a flurry here. Weird.

Today's treat sounds a bit harsher and if you fall under it, be careful digging out. And if this crap falls on your pet puddle be darned careful about wandering out on it since the ice its going to be on is pretty darned young.

[bassbull]

HI CTOM Live just south of LX A few mi. We had about 12 to 14 inches of snow and it blew making a lot of drifts. Haven't gone out to check the river yet, don't no what kind of mess that will be????? STEVE

[Crappie 1]

Storms past. We got 4" of snow on the ground. Would have had quite a bit more, but it poured rain all night settling it. Lakes got ice & we have cold temps on the way. Maybe fishing soon...

[no1son]

Minneapolis was north of that storm. All we got was a dusting of snow. With temps consistently below freezing for a while now, I expect that we have fishable ice around here. I had a couple of distractions interfere or I would have been out already I think. Now it won't be until after New Year's at the earliest.

I will be traveling over Christmas and if past history is any indication I will be driving in some kind of storm on at least one leg. That never fails. Since I will be going down to NW Iowa, who knows how that storm will track.

[CTom]

Dutch....travel safe and you have a Merry Christmas!

I was up in the Twin Cities yesterday and couldn't see much of any storm residue up there. Things stopped about Cannon Falls as far as any evidence that showed a storm had passed by. We had 6 inches. The wind was something on Thursday though.

[no1son]

CT,

Thanks and same to you.

It will be family and extended family. Some of my mother's siblings (all upper 80's and into their 90's have some health problems; so I definitely will be doing some visiting around. Gonna be lots of food, too.

I am a bit worried about Christmas Eve though. Traditionally a big family meal on my mother's side with all the good China and lots of food and fellowship, several quite formal courses and everything, except in the past year their denomination has schismed even separating siblings from each other including my mother's. Lots of hard feelings and hurt ones. I am hoping that if this comes off again this year, the hatchet will be buried for at least that evening. Problem is those are some very hard headed people, and this is hitting them right where they live. The tension is going to be pretty thick though no matter how it goes, unless one sister and her husband who is heavy on the other side from most of them do not show up, which will also be sad. This is all over the color of the women's stockings and how much their hair doily has to cover,the length of the already long skirts and that sort of thing. I doubt I will ever understand how those things are so important that families split up over them, right down to separating husband from wife which also has happened in this case, and those folks do not divorce either. Mom, I and my siblings are outside of that and about all we can do is watch. Really sad.

You down on that I90 corridor very often get different snowfall than we do. It doesn't look at all like we had 10-16" here in the Cities just a short while back does it? We had wind, too, but deep in the Metro the trees buffered most of it. I did not notice any wind problems at my house. Should be good temps around for building ice this week though.

When I get back later this week, I plan to be on the ice.

Happy holidays to you and all.

[CTom]

I went from home to west of Albert Lea yesterday and the I90 run was nice. Within that shot they didn't have the snow we had here in Rochester and drifting hadn't gotten from the fencing to the highway surface yet. Plenty of distance to go for future snow. We did see some small areas where the wind was blowing snow over wet areas and making a slick spot but these were far and few between. Its supposed to be cooler now for several days so yesterday's 30+ degrees won't be around to melt much if snow does get blown over the road surface. I think your travel should be in good shape Dutch.

[no1son]

CT,

Thanks for the scouting trip. You were right and this trip was one of the first I can remember with totally good roads both ways around Christmas. The whole family was together on Christmas day and I headed back yesterday, one day early due to forecasts of snow showers and flurries for the SW part of Minnesota and the adjacent NW corner of Iowa. By Christmas night I was watching the forecasts closely and missed whatever developed.

One cousin and his family were back in NW Iowa from their home in Southern Indiana going right back into the teeth of the mess, after already having had an ice related accident on the way out in Central Iowa. Nobody got hurt in that one thankfully, but their family car ended up in the shop and they had to rent one to get back to his mother's for the holiday. I hope they make it home safely, perhaps even staying over an extra day, but that may not even help them as hard and as frequently as this year's storms have hammered along the route they have to take. It seems to me that when the storms tend to come up from the Pacific out of California like they have this winter so far, Iowa and point east and south of us tend to get hammered a whole lot more than we do here in the Twin Cities. Our worst Minnesota storms come down out of the Prairie Provinces of Canada.

I took HWY 60 down and I90 back to the Cities with totally clear and dry highways both directions. (I90 from HWY 71 out of Spirit Lake, since I normally stop at the True Fishing shop in Spirit Lake for a breather on the way back and that is a straight shop down Iowa 9 east out of the town my mother lives in, and this time also at Cabelas on I35 armed with a couple of gift cards.

At Cabelas I was going to look at the Eagle Claw inline ice reel, but they didn't have them, didn't stock them and won't. So probably I didn't miss anything anyway. I did pick up one of the Frabill titanium spring bobbers though, since it was already essentially free,and a couple of jigging raps and Swedish Pimples. But 12 bucks for a spring bobber is still a bite. BTW Cabelas both stocked the Mitchell Meat Stick and has a copy under their own name now of the extreme noodle tip style of that and the PowerNoodle. At this point in the season though I do not trust myself to accurately judge the softness of the tip. I tend to pick stiffer tips than I mean to, until I transition from open water rods to the much softer tips on the ice rods I prefer; I have enough rods at this point anyway, although I almost fell in love with a very soft, sweet Fenwick 5' open water rod at the Pure Fishing Outlet. The price was right too, but like ice rods I already have enough open water ones with the right actions. Not very often that I do not pick up something at the Outlet, but this time not.

[Bob/MN]

I spent seven days in IA and Ne,getting back on the 27th. The storm really made a mess in Omaha as it rained and then dumped seven inches of wet snow. With all the traffic the side streets had four inches of compacted bumpy ice on them. As luck would have it after the storm the temps stayed in the mid thirties and road graders were able to scrape the side streets clean.
I use this weather site(CWSU TAF METAR Weather Observation maps - NOAA National Weather Service) to monitor weather conditions when bad weather is a issue. This site gives up to date conditions for a given area of travel.
On the 20th travel on I-29 was good to Sioux City and on the 21th I-29 was clear to Omaha. About 35 miles north of Omaha there were 18 wheelers and cars in the ditch from the day before.