The latest recorded date for the freezing of the surface of Lake Bemidji (the 6400 acre lake that I live near in north central Minnesota) is December 15. That record was set in 1999. Lake Bemidji is still completely open today (December 17, 2001) with only a little shelf ice along the shore in some places. Temperatures forcasted for this week are lows in the 20s and highs in the low 30s, not cold enough for ice formation on a large lake. Freeze-up seems at least a week away. If this weather holds, I doubt if it will come before January. It usually amazes me how closely the freezing and thawing of this lake can be predicted. Regardless of warm spells and cold snaps, it closes up and reopens within a narrow range of dates... At least it has in the past.
The little bit of snow that fell last month has melted away from my parsley bed and I picked some - it's still good! This doesn't happen often in horticultural zone 2.
