Yes, It's a Cold Spring

Look at these lovely green leaves from May 18, 2010.
Now look at the same exact tree (at a wider angle) 363 days later. Leaves are barely unfolding. Out west they had a frost warning last night. So yes, you are colder than usual this spring. Or at least colder than last spring. I can't go back to 2009 for this view because I was still taking pictures from my office window (this was in the pre-reflective film days) so I don't have any of this tree. The one outside my window, then as now, is in full bright green leafiness. Someday I might add a time/temp feature just to help track these things.

Gloom. Doom.

It's calmer today, but no less depressing. Spring, where are you? Please come back! We promise to be good!

Splash and Crash

Very wavy, with some early morning sunshine to make it more dramatic. Still cold.

Winter: The Return

A cold front is blowing in a lot of windy misery. As you can see, there's grass, so it's not exactly freezing, but it is wool coat (but not down) and gloves (but not hats) weather. I miss spring! From Thursday, 4/14/11.

Light on the Water

Still cold, but sunny!
With lots of clouds for the sun to try to elude, so lots of interesting shadows on the water.
Amazing contrast. All from Thursday, 3/24/11.

More Winter

Brown, angry waves. From Wednesday, 3/23/11.

Winter Redux

After last week's springlike weather, winter returned with a vengeance this week, with sub-freezing temperatures, harsh winds, and a few dustings of snow. So the Lake was looking pretty brown most of the week. From Tuesday, 3/22/11.

What a Difference a Day Makes

To quote guest photographer MT directly. Same Sheboygan view, different Sheboygan weather. From today, 2/20/11.

How to choose?

So many pretty pictures, I just couldn't do it. Which is your favorite? From Saturday, 2/5/11.

Cliff Notes

Yesterday's "ice fields" have now been pushed into shore, where they have formed messy, sandy cliffs of ice.
Extending all along the shore.
And the remaining ice has drifted back out to sea...

No Lifeguard On Duty

Have you ever wondered how Lake Michigan would look after 2 feet of snow and 15 or so hours of huge winds/waves? Well, wonder no more dear readers!
It looks very similar to a plowed field after a heavy snow. Very bumpy and white. But with piles of snow on the periphery.

Here's a closer look. Click on it to see the larger and more impressive version. All of these were taken from the beach near my home, where we spent our day shoveling 6 foot drifts off our driveway and waiting for the power to come on (it did after 17 hours). The next few days, depending on wave action, should reveal some impressive piles of ice on the shore. Come back and see!

Steamy

But not hot! Relatively warm (32 degrees or so) water meets very cold (0 degrees or so) air.

January Blues

Lovely late afternoon colors. From Wednesday, 1/19/11.

On New Year's Day

Sorry I'm so late in posting this. A popular activity along the Lake Michigan shoreline (and, no doubt the shores of other lakes in cold areas of the northern hemisphere) is the "Polar Plunge", "Polar Bear Plunge" and the like, on New Years' Day. These guys below, in the thermal wet suits......are waiting for these guys/gals, in the birthday suits (with a few accessories).
I was there to watch, and it was COLD just standing outside in the cold with a strong breeze off the Lake. maybe some year I will try this, but this was not that year!

Early Icing

I can't believe we have visible ice already!
I went back to the last two years' December pics, and there's no visible ice. There was a film of ice in the morning that burned off later in the day on one post. But that was it. How can we have late leaves and early ice about a month apart? (This was taken at 1:30pm, btw. Plenty of time for the sun to burn it off, if it weren't so cold.)

Sheen

This strange combination of brown water and light creates a blue-gray sheen on the wave troughs. That plus the roaring waves made for entertaining Lake viewing all day yesterday, 12/13/10.

First Clinging Snow

After a long delay, Winter is here, with the cold and snow it requires. There is a bit clinging to the crook of this tree. Just looking at it makes me cold.

Tuesday Morning

Tuesday Morning. That is all. From 11/30/10.

Cooling

Fall arrived for real on Tuesday, 10/26/10.

Heaving

We have had an impressive amount of snow today (not as much as the east coast, but a foot is impressive) and it's also windy. We went down to the beach to see what the Lake was doing. Huge heaving waves that occasionally broke and splashed into the air, which became ice chunks on the way down. The surface of the water looked like a desert that was alive, with the dunes shifting around before your eyes. Through it all, brave gulls were flying and diving. It was very hard to take photos because of the blowing snow on the lens (and in the eyes) and the cold wind that made it hard to be out of gloves for more than a minute. The shoreline ice formations should be amazing this week.