Quote Originally Posted by RileySugarbush View Post
Days of complete ice cover on Riley Lake

Observations since 1986 are my own. I do not work for the government or any interest group.

Blue line is a linear regression. Losing about 5 days of cover per decade.

Have a look and draw your own conclusions.
I'll offer a few conclusions, #1) Appears as if most, if not all of the recordings from the 80's are missing.

#2) I have no idea where Riley Lake is, but I am assuming it is in and around the cities. I do believe in terms like the "urban heat island effect" as the Twin Cities meteorologists reference, and it is highly likely that the number of ice on the lake days have indeed went down because of the warmer micro climate being caused by the influx of residents, increased concrete, blacktop, buildings, etc....

Not trying to be controversial, just stating a few, in my opinion, very good reasons for the decrease. If all of the 80's were included, it could change the number of days drastically. And in all honesty, 40-50 years is a very short stitch in time compared to the big picture as the Dr. pointed out.