University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: Wisconsin winter

Where Does Lake Mendota’s 2022 Christmas Freeze Fall in Historic Ice Records?

For fans of ice fishing, ice skating, cross-country skiing and just enjoying a winter walk, this holiday season was especially timely. One year ago today, Lake Mendota was still making waves and waiting on its annual ice cap. This winter, however, Madison’s biggest lake received a literal Christmas present – the Wisconsin State Climatology Office …

Annual PSA: To Keep Our Freshwater Fresh, We Must Be Smart About Winter Salt

Winter in the colder climes of North America means a lot of things – frozen lakes, white blankets of snow and, far too often, the crunch of salt crystals underfoot. While we use salt to keep roads, parking lots and sidewalks ice-free, those leftover piles of undissolved crystals mean far too much salt was put …

Why Do We Say Lake Mendota is Frozen Before it’s Fully Frozen?

This weekend, the Center for Limnology Twitter account was tagged in a post from the UW Department of Emergency Medicine’s chief flight physician and pilot, Mike Abernethy, who had been flying a helicopter over Lake Mendota on Saturday, January 9th. It’s a really cool view of the lake and you should watch it here. While …