The return of snow this past weekend dashed the hopes for spring arriving sooner rather than later, and ice leaving area lakes might also be delayed.
WJFW TV meteorologist Ryan Sandberg says they have statistics for Boom Lake in Rhinelander dating back to 1939. He says the people keeping the statistics had a unique way to tell if the ice was leaving....
"....from 1939 to 1965 the ice out dates were measured by sinking a car through the ice. From 1966 to the present those ice out dates are measured by visibly seeing the ice off the lake...."
He says from 1966 through 2013 the average is around mid-to-late April...
"....some of the warmer seasons we've had ice out as early as mid-March. We've also had some cooler seasons where May 10th there was still ice on the lakes...."
Sandberg says with thick lake ice and a cooler, drawn out spring is likely to delay ice out in the Rhinelander area from late April to early May.
