GRAND RAPIDS — On the Tuesday Morning Show March 28, the snow was starting to get to John Latimer and Heidi Holtan.
Between getting stuck in knee-high drifts to make a path to the maple trees to monitoring temperatures daily to predict ice out on area lakes, it’s been too much. At this point, it seems hard to believe the sugarbush traditions will happen and the lakes will open up again.
The conversation with regular KAXE contributor Bob "Tornado Bob" Conzemius began with a text question from Betsy from Meadowlands: “Does Bob use a special setting on his phone to capture the northern lights?”
Conzemius told Betsy to make sure her flash is off.
"If it’s an iPhone 10 or higher, they have a setting where you have to turn off and it will expose for three seconds at least. You can also change to 10 seconds.”
Latimer talked about his Google phone. “Each shot, you just click and it does a slow exposure and the images are much brighter than I can see with my eyes. It receives light in a different way.”
As the conversation moved into the extended winter and upcoming cold fronts and additional snow, Conzemius couldn’t hide his enthusiasm.
“I was grooming at Mt. Itasca last night. The classic skiing and the skate skiing should both be great.”
And Conzemius isn't the only one still embracing winter. Lorie Shaull of McGregor recently discovered the beauty of crust skiing.
"This is the first year I realized skate skiing on the snow crust is a thing," Shaull wrote in an email. "Usually skate skiing is reserved for groomed trails but in spring when the warmer daytime temps and sun melt the top layer of the snow on the lake and then it refreezes at night, you can skate ski anywhere on the lake.
"It's the next best thing to ice skating on a frozen lake!"
As for the forecast for the next week or so, Conzemius said to expect subzero lows and another system moving in Thursday late in the day. Over the weekend, there’s a band of snow expected to move into the Brainerd and Duluth regions.
Conzemius left those sick of winter with positive thoughts.
“You look to the north, across the window at KAXE at the front door, and you can see that hillside is snow free. The sun is having its effect and the Great Blue Herons are going to be here regardless.”
Send us your weather questions.