Looking into the archives on this day for the past 20 years, brought us to some interesting scenes. It’s not often you see a snowman as big as the one in Jon Hopper’s photo from 2001. That’s Chilly Willy, the winter mascot for the Houghton Dairy Queen that year.

The next scenic view comes to us from Roy Aho, who was on his snowmobile back in 2006 on the shoreline near his family cabin in the Freda area. This shot was taken by the mouth of the Graveraet River, looking north. Off in the distance you can see the Freda smokestack.

Looking ahead one year to 2007, Aladino Mandoli captured a neat shot of the trees towering high overhead, adorned with snow clinging to every branch. Nature sure has a way of making even a leafless tree look beautiful!

The next two photos are from Jeff LaMuth, taken on an ice climbing expedition last weekend. We’ve featured photos from his icy adventures before, but I don’t think any from right there on the ice as he’s climbing to the top. Take note in the first of his two photos, one of his climbing friends is peeking out of what they call an ice cave about mid-route on the climb.

Jeff also made the video here today, giving us a look inside that ice cave. Listen closely and you’ll hear the water running behind the ice, too. Technology today is pretty amazing, that we can make a climb like this, crawl in an ice cave and hear the magical sounds inside, without ever putting on any climbing gear. Thanks for taking us along, Jeff!

Looks like Chilly Willy just wants to enjoy a Blizzard......

All great pictures today but Chilly Willy is truly
impressive!!

Pix are nice-icles! Chilly Willy...Dilly Dilly!

Dilly Dilly!

Folks in Houghton have more sisu than in my neighborhood. A couple of winters ago, the Brighton Dairy Queen sign read: "Closed for the season. Reason? Freezin'!"

Dilly Dilly!

Martha,

Can you imagine the comparison of the level of
'Freezin' between the two?!! Brighton hardly knows
the meaning of the word compared to Houghton!

jbuck (Jbuck):

" Can you imagine the comparison of the level of
'Freezin' between the two?!! Brighton hardly knows
the meaning of the word compared to Houghton!"

True, as far as that goes, jbuck.
But of course I'm sure you're aware that due to the moderating effect of Lake Superior, it can also be said that Houghton "hardly knows the meaning of the word compared to International Falls, MN".
As shown in the following table of …

Normal mean (average) temperatures.

Month	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
Location	Avg Max  Avg Min  Mean	Avg Max  Avg Min  Mean	Avg Max  Avg Min  Mean	Avg Max  Avg Min  Mean	Avg Max  Avg Min  Mean	Avg Max  Avg Min  Mean
MQT	52.1°F  34.2°F  43.2°F	37.6°F  23.0°F  30.3°F	25.9°F  11.2°F  18.5°F	21.9°F   5.2°F  13.6°F	25.6°F   5.3°F  15.5°F	34.7°F  13.8°F  24.2°F
INL	51.1°F  31.0°F  41.1°F	33.7°F   17.4°F  25.5°F	19.0°F    4°F      9.7°F	15.4°F  -6.6°F   4.4°F	22.0°F  -1.3°F  10.3°F	34.7°F  12.5°F  23.6°F

And these are averages, never mind the extremes.

International Falls isn't the only place in MN,
FRNash. We also have Embarrass, MN. And believe
me, it lives up to its name.

So true, Deb. I know about Embarrass, one of the neighbors
back at the farm in Bruce Crossing moved to Embarrass after
her husband passed away many, many decades ago.
I think International falls still holds the record, though — or at
least they like to claim it!

P.S.:
See my previous post for a shining example of why I should never post a message using my iPad!
Crazy formatting! Seems the iPad and the forum have different ideas about the width of the message! <Grrr!>