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COMMENTS BY KIM: When spring is and isn’t

A North Dakota routine

Seems like it happens every year. Yup, the old North Dakota spring tease. Inevitable, isn’t it?

One day a guy is on the water enjoying the time of his life and the next day it is cold and windy and snowy. Welcome to spring in North Dakota. Really though, it’s early in the calendar for our climate and we’ll take any bit of spring we can get. Call it a bonus.

It was great to see so many boats on Lake Sakakawea and Lake Audubon before the weather change. That’s no complaint. For goodness sakes, we desperately needed the moisture and whatever relief it will give to farmers, ranchers and firefighters.

We are certainly coming off a winter that wasn’t very North Dakota-like, which is probably responsible for my “spring fever”, even though I have to remind myself every year not to get too excited for spring until it really settles in. Don’t think that ever really works though. I think most people know the feeling. Everyone is eager to get outside and do their thing, especially as the COVID situation appears to be easing up a bit as well.

News from Lake Sakakawea this week was encouraging. The big reservoir was declared “ice free” by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday, April 13. Sakakawea didn’t freeze until over entirely until Jan. 24 of this year, making for just 80 days of hard water, the sixth least amount of froze-over days in Sakakawea history and 27 days sooner than a year ago.

There’s always plenty of guys and gals chomping at the bit to get on the water early, and this year they have, but the recent return to winter-like conditions has quite expectedly slowed that down. Seems like it happens that way every spring.

No matter. I’ll take it. This spring has already been more cooperative than most I can remember, no matter what the rest of the season has in store.

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