What happened to winter?!? This has been one of the most fascinating/boring years of winter weather I can remember. I kept waiting for winter to arrive and it really never did. Sure we had some snow and we had some cold but neither the cold nor the snow could ever really settle in across the upper Midwest. For winter enthusiasts of course it is a major bummer; things like skiing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing had abbreviated seasons. And I am sure the lack of winter hurt a lot of people’s pocket books as well. There is a huge industry that revolves around the winter season, from plowing and shoveling to ski resorts.
I feel like I should take some of the blame. I left my career in meteorology during the fall and was REALLY looking forward to enjoying some stress free snow storms! Snow storms are easily one of the most challenging things to forecast when it comes to weather and over the last two brutal winters I was worn out! I know that one winter every major snow system struck on a Monday (not really, but it felt like that!), which meant I was all alone trying to forecast it on my weekend shift. So of course I leave the field and we have the most non challenging winter known to man!
All said I won’t be complaining too much. I know that the mild weather negatively affected my deer hunting this past fall. And it would have been nice to have a longer, safer ice fishing season. On the positive side is that after a couple of hard winters the pheasant population caught a nice break. Let’s hope for a dry spring for some good nesting and a nice population boost!
Now that the weather is warming I am looking forward to open water fishing. My favorite type of fishing is bass fishing and I am really looking forward to setting the hook on some lunkers this summer. My next planned trip to the outdoors is in a few weeks when I travel north for the Minnesota fishing opener. I haven’t been able to fish the opener for several years because of my work schedule but this year I am excited to go north and enjoy the tradition.
Hopefully, you found some ways to enjoy this mild winter. Did you notice the affects of the mild weather on your outdoor pursuits this winter? Was it positive or negative? Feel free to share in the comments below.
