The snowmobile trails in Vilas County officially opened today at 8:00 A.M. At that time this morning it was a balmy -18 degrees F (that's minus 18 degrees) here in Manitowish Waters, following yesterday when the high was only -3 degrees with wind chills of -40 or better. I drove by a section of the trail shortly after 8 and it was groomed as one would have expected, but the trail was still awaiting the first (legal) snowmobile of the season (no tracks yet.) We are still 5 days short of the official start of winter, but the way the weather has been for the last month, we are in for one bear of a winter, which translates into good prospects for an excellent season for winter outdoor activities. We have about 8 inches of fairly dense snow on the ground and it should make a fairly good base for the snowmobile and cross-country ski trails. The weather pattern has been a small accumulation of powdery snow about every other day, so things should be good for downhill skiing, also. I see that some snowmobilers have been on several of the lakes, but I am not going to follow their example for some time yet.
As an aside, I believe that I heard on the TV this morning that there is snow on the ground just north of Phoenix. I wonder how often that happens, especially in early the winter season?