Last year's winter in Wisconsin was rough.  The snow came as early as late October and persisted until late April, meaning that our winter lasted for about six months.  Extreme weather isn't unusual in the Upper-Midwest, where temperatures shift so wildly that you can have the odd fall or spring snowstorm, but that winter was as bad as it had gotten in a long time.  Even the winter of 2018-2019 wasn't as bad, and that was when temperatures got all the way down to a -60F wind chill.

Regardless, the winter atmosphere was beautiful last year.  After a major snowstorm had passed through, forcing everyone to stay home for the day, I took the opportunity to take some photos from the middle of the road while traffic was gone.

The next day, I woke up early that morning to catch a sunrise on the lake.  The snow covered forest and the warm glow of the sun combined for a beautiful view.

It may surprise you that this winter has been completely different.

The snowstorm that came before these photos brought more snow than we have gotten these past couple months total.  And even when we have gotten snow, it wouldn't last long.  This current winter is one of the warmest on record, due to the El Niño current causing warm air to be transferred here.

The pictures show what we're dealing with.  These were taken on Christmas Eve.

Conditions have not changed since then.  So far during the time of posting this, we are heading into January without any snow on the ground.  I'm not sure if there is any snow cover anywhere near here, though if I had to guess, there's probably snow near Lake Superior, where the lake effect snowstorms tend to happen.

I plan to check that out soon, and hopefully see some light decorations still up in Duluth.