Weekly Wave: We got tag-teamed by Lake Superior and Mother Nature

By Rick Lubbers

May 26, 2023 at 1:09 PM

DULUTH — Mother Nature doesn’t always observe April Fools’ Day on April 1.

She likes to catch us off guard and pull pranks when we aren’t suspecting them.

Take this past Tuesday, for instance. Northlanders enjoyed a sweet slice of summer most of the day. Lots of sun. Cerulean skies. Temps jumping into the 80s. It felt like a day at the beach.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

The wind shifted some time during our late May tanning session, and with the frigid gusts screaming off Lake Superior we soon started to wonder where we kept our winter jackets.

Thirty degrees later, the beach day seemed like a mirage. We dropped from the 80s to the 50s faster than you can say “cooler by the lake.”

But we’re used to this type of late April Fools’ joke, right? It’s just Mother Nature and Lake Superior tag-teaming to remind us our weather can instantly change on their whims. We know better than to pack away our coats and other cool weather gear. You never know when you will need them.

Yet, we often treat these winds of change like a magic trick, rather than believing that the gorgeous body of water on our doorstep could stoop to such a low blow.

As we begin our long Memorial Day Weekend, the weather forecast appears promising with more sun-splashed days and temps in the high 70s. I plan to enjoy the summer-like weather as much as possible.

… But I’ll keep my coat on standby.

Here are some DNT highlights from the past week:

Bringing it all back home

Three young light-skinned children stand holding hands in a black-and-white photo taken circa 1945. Two girls about six years old wear thigh-length coats; a boy about four years old wears a dark suit. — Bobby Zimmerman, who would become Bob Dylan, stands with two Hibbing children in a photograph taken about 1945.

Northlanders are obsessed with all things Bob Dylan, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to publish a couple of rare photos of a very young Dylan … back when he was little Bobby Zimmerman.

A couple of readers reached out to arts and entertainment reporter Jay Gabler recently with some vintage photos of Dylan and interesting notes from that era in the Northland.

Since Dylan celebrated his 82nd birthday this week, we thought we’d bring his fans this present.

The joys of summer

Fireworks fill night sky with moon over harbor — Fireworks explode in the skies above the Duluth Harbor on Friday, July 8, 2022, in Duluth. The display was rescheduled from Monday due to the inclement weather on the Fourth of July.

Now that summer doesn’t seem so far away — save for the occasional wicked switch of the wind off Lake Superior — let’s start planning for some summer fun, shall we?

To help you fill out your social calendar, arts and entertainment reporter Jay Gabler gathered the Northland’s top summer events in one handy story.

Turtle crossing

060521.O.DNT.turtles — A snapping turtle moves across a highway near Ely, encouraged a bit by the photographer. Wildlife experts are encouraging Northlanders to slow down when driving near lakes and wetlands in June and to help turtles cross the road as they make seasonal migrations. But be careful with snappers! (Bob King / 2010 file / News Tribune)

And now for a quick public service announcement … our tortoise friends could use a hand or two crossing the road this spring.

As DNT outdoors reporter John Myers writes, “... turtles need our help crossing the road, especially coming up in June when many of them will be on the move to mating and nesting areas and to move from wintering areas to summer waterways.”

In honor of World Turtle Day (May 23), Myers published a report full of tips for handling turtles and helping them safely cross our busy roadways.

Catch a wave

Here are a few more stories from the past week to check out:

Furry farm: Esko couple open alpaca ranch
Session windfall: Duluth, Northland celebrate exceptional legislative successes
Astro Bob: Supergiant star in Pinwheel Galaxy goes supernova!
Northlandia: ‘Snowshoe Priest’ crossed Lake Superior in canoe — and may become saint

Editor's note: Weekly Wave is a newsletter that I publish every Friday morning. Please consider subscribing — it's free — and hits your inbox just once a week. You can sign up here.