DECEMBER, 2007 WEATHER & PHENOLOGY IN REVIEW

From the North Shore of Little Rock Lake

Jim Hovda, Rice, MN 56367-0265     jhovda.rice@juno.com

N 45   44   .862'       W  094   09   .603'

CAPSULE OF LAST DECEMBER:       A lot warmer and a lot dryer...   Average temps on the low side were +16.88 degrees compared to only .71 degrees this year.  On the high side, 34.44 degrees compared to only 20.05 degrees this year.  Just about fifteen degrees difference on both the high and low averages.  WOW!   Yes, it was a lite jacket December.   Only 3.6" of snow compared to 12.8" this year.    Ten days with snow/rain compared to fifteen days with just snow this year.  It was a balmy dry December.  We ended the year with a total amount of precipitation of 23.76".

WEATHER:       Our very cold December was close to a SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EVENT.   If you thought it was cold, you were right.   From 01 to 16 December (except for the 2nd) the low temps were below zero.  The 19th and the 23rd also saw temps below zero.    The coldest days occurred on the  8th & 9th with a reading of -21.9 degrees below zero.  Only one day made it into the thirties and that occurred on the 22nd when the thermometer reached a balmy 34.3 degrees.   If you remembered last December, the temps reached the 50's, six days in the 40's and no less than fourteen days with temps above freezing.   This year snow saved the day for the septic systems and the plants.  From the 2nd thru the 7th it snowed.  No less than 10.7".   Lots of insulation for everything that needed it except for the ice on Little Rock Lake.  The "pooper pumpers" did not have the weekly pumping they had other years when we had little snow and septic systems froze.  We ended the month with a total of 12.8" of snow and 5.8" on the ground at the end of the month.   Total precipitation for the month was 1.41".  Our snowfall total stands at  12.9" for the snow season.  Precipitation for 2007 ended with 24.66" of the liquid stuff.

WEATHER RECORDS (Dec):       Greater MN - Lowest temp -57 degrees  on the 31st, 1898 at Pokegama Dam.  Warmest, 74 Degrees on the 9th, 1991 in St. Francis.  That folks, is no less than 131 degrees temp variation in the month of Dec.     Local - Coldest the 25th, -42 degrees, 1884.  Warmest the 6th, 63 degrees, 1939.  Snowfall, 9.8" on the  22nd, 1968 and snowfall for the month 25.4" in 1968.

PHENOLOGY:       NOTE - Little Rock Lake freezes over on the 2nd.   Birds:  On the 2nd Emil & Beulah Williams observed a Loggerhead Shrike chasing after the finches that were at their feeder.  This bird is also known as the "Butcher Bird" for placing its victims on thorns or points of a barbed wire fence for future meals.  On the 7th I observed two Common Grackles eating seeds at the feeder.  This is the latest I've ever seen them as I've associated them to warm weather.  On the 14th the Loggerhead Shirke paid a visit to our feeder looking for prey.  Instead he ran into the window.   Jan and I nursed him back to health.  He finally flew off after he cleared his head from the impact with the glass.   No small birds were in the area for quite some time.   On the 18th a large Red-tailed Hawk took a few chunks out of the suet and on the 27th the Sharp-shinned Hawk zipped thru just missing a Junco that was late getting off the feeder.  Not all hunts for our birds of prey are successful.  So far, no wild turkeys  here as has been the case for the last few years.  A heated bird bath will do wonders for attracting our feathered friends.  "Critters":  Two or three bunnies venture to the feeders each night to gobble up what the birds missed.  We do leave some cracked corn out for them.  Sort of feel sorry for them having to scrounge what little food there is because of the snow on the ground.  There were two appearances of the "dreaded" possum.  I think I have successfully "relocated" them.   It was my impression that they hibernated during the winter.  Evidently that is not the case.   I have been getting a lot of reports of possums in much larger numbers.  Does anything eat them?  Yes, the days are gradually getting longer now.   

LITTLE ROCK LAKE:       Mr. Randy Fernholz who I consider our resident lake "expert,"  reports that ice conditions on LRL are "challenging" to say the least.  Ice thickness varies from 6"-8" in some places to just over 16" in others.  To complicate the issue, slush under snow in many places.  Very few vehicles have ventured on the lake and then, only the small ones.   Very few fish houses and none that are heavy requiring a large vehicle to get them out on the lake.   There is a lot of open water under the highway #10 bridge and the water leading to the Mississippi River.    Usually, from my vantage point on the north end of the lake, there are usually more than one hundred houses.  Now I can only see about ten.  One should use a lot of caution when contemplating taking a vehicle on the ice.

NATURE FACT:       A squirrel can smell an acorn under 10" of snow.   Naturalist Jim Gilbert, Sunday, 30 Dec, WCCO Radio hosting "Nature Notes."