I hate to say it, but you are dead on right about it being a late winter.
I am sitting here watch heavy snow fall. The forecast is for several inches of snow.
In central North Dakota it will be a lot more than that. This morning I filled
my gas cans in case of a power outage, hope not. Our power comes from ND.

Carl

Welcome to the northland, only getting rain here in cornucopia...but it's still daylight

RedLakePaddler: "
I am sitting here watch heavy snow fall. The forecast is for several inches of snow.
"

Yes, these April and May snow storms can be heavy and are very disconcerting.

I don’t want to hear that! Next Tues I’m driving from WI to Idaho to visit my son. He said he took his pack test today in a blizzard. Guess I’ll pack sleeping bags, boots, etc for the trip just in case. We were hoping to hike, bike, and fish so I hope the weather warms up quickly!

take tire chains. there are fetches of highway they won't let you on without chains if conditions are bad.

At a time we usually see water opening up around the lake here, we might be making ice a few nights here. Say it isn’t so!!!
4keyes... say hi to Bryce. I’m heading to Washington myself. Going south and making a loop. Yes, there’s always canoes involved. Haha. My oldest turns forty in a week... I hope this weather turns around.

In Maine, it's mild, but wet. We got a three-inch rainfall a couple days ago and we're in the middle of a two-inch rainfall now. I wish we could send it all to California. We don't need it. I've ponds in my woods. Anyone want to catch a walleye?

Absolutely, the 1st time in my life I've ever heard someone say the weatherman was right..........lol

Lake Superior is making ice again. I see lots of new ice near duluth, not just the stuff that blew in from who knows where. Snowing all day in Duluth. Temps well below freezing at night. Uggg.

I started a thread on March 5th asking about ice thickness concerned about a late ice out. I was assured by many that I would be fine on May 12th. I want my money back!

SinglePortage: "I started a thread on March 5th asking about ice thickness concerned about a late ice out. I was assured by many that I would be fine on May 12th. I want my money back!"

Thought you were looking at June 12th.

Yes, WW nailed this one. He predicted this on the weather forum on this site as a sub-group. I think WW predicted this around mid December when we were all basking in an extended warm fall.

His prediction chilled me to the bone :-)

Edit, I looked in past threads, WW predicted this cold winter on 1/6/22

"btw- NE ND and NW MN are having their coldest start to JAN in recorded history-- avg'ing near -15F below normal with means near -10F through the first 10-12 days. It basically wipes out the warm DEC and then some.

If what I say above comes to fruition - we could be looking at one of the coldest winters since 2013-14 / 1994-95 / and even the late 70's for those that believed in global cooling."

4keys: "I don’t want to hear that! Next Tues I’m driving from WI to Idaho to visit my son. He said he took his pack test today in a blizzard. Guess I’ll pack sleeping bags, boots, etc for the trip just in case. We were hoping to hike, bike, and fish so I hope the weather warms up quickly!
"

If you get stranded in deep snow, make sure to keep your exhaust open.

Granted, driving in winter sucks. No doubt about that.

However, winter has a lot of magical reasons to love it. These are some of mine:

Most people are inside not in the woods. For most of the winter, I had the woods to myself or maybe encountered 1-3 people.
No mosquitoes in the woods.
Observing tracks is easier. You can see the hidden world of animal travel.
The snow is breathtakingly beautiful.
The air is crisp and alive.
The woods are so quiet and peaceful without all those pesky people...I mean bugs :)

Nothing is quite as magical as starting a hike, seeing no one, and having it start to snow...

Thank you, Portage, for reminding me of winter's charms.