Sailing Way Too Cold

Fred and Barbara Johnson live in Ely, Minnesota, close to the Canadian border. While sailing with their family on the York River, they recounted how it got down to 21 degrees one night in mid-October. In winter, low temperatures hover below zero. The lakes freeze three feet thick, “enough for snowplows to clear lanes to cross the ice,” their son Ben said. “People who own islands will wait for the deep freeze to drive logging trucks across with lumber to build their house,” he added. Fred said, “On thinner ice, sometimes guys will take their pickup trucks out there… and sink them. As for snow, “We’ve gotten flurries while watching the Fourth of July parade,” Fred said.