View from Lake Mendota Webcam on January 12, 2024. This is a good thing. Watch the live webcam for ice-making starting Monday.
Southern Wisconsin is currently weathering heavy snow and winds. The blizzard has prompted the postponement of Scott Goetz’s celebration of life, initially scheduled for Saturday, January 13, 2024. The family will likely reschedule when the weather is warmer.
Weather Underground temperature forecast.
We expect very cold weather next week and are hopeful for good ice sailing conditions in the coming days. The good news is that all Madison area lakes are open. Maybe we’ll have ice like Lake Vanem in Sweden right now, pictured below! Keep your runners sharp, it’s coming to southern Wisconsin.
Here’s a look at England’s frigid winter of 1963, which looks quite normal to Midwestern eyes. The dramatic melancholy soundtrack, more suited to an alien-invasion movie, shows how much England was not well equipped for cold weather. Of course, others saw a great opportunity in the freeze, and iceboats came down from the rafters. Go to the 30:00 minute mark to see ice yachting in England in 1963. Unfortunately, the documentary doesn’t give a location where the ice sailing took place. Perhaps it’s in Norfolk, which does have a history of ice sailing. Tip of the Helmet: Rick Thompson
Update January 15, 2021: UK DNer Chris Williams who served for many years at the IDNIYRA European Secretary recalls: “Thank you so much for that great film of the 1963 winter. We remember it well and were living in Edinburgh at that time – I was second in command of a Royal Navy Minehunter! The picture at the start showing a large expanse of ice and several different types of ice yachts is not in the UK. At the 30 minute point in the film with several basic – home made ice yachts in in Lincolnshire ( east England). I introduced my DN when I returned from 3 years in Canada in 1969. I had built my DN as part of a project at the Nova Ice Yacht Club where I am a Founder
Member! We built 11 DNS !
Think ICE
CHRIS
K-1”
From yesterday’s #IceBridge flight: A tabular iceberg can be seen on the right, floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg’s sharp angles and flat surface indicate that it probably recently calved from the ice shelf. pic.twitter.com/XhgTrf642Z
Here’s a nice flat piece of ice estimated to be over a mile wide to get us in the mood for upcoming ice checks. Learn more about how tabular icebergs are formed on Live Science.
