By the time you read this, parts of the Northland likely will have seen frost for the first time since spring.
Following a boisterous cold front that brought rain and high winds to the region while roiling Lake Superior waters, spotty frost was expected across the Iron Range overnight, said Amanda Graning, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Duluth.
And with clear skies expected, the area of frost could extend considerably farther tonight and Friday night, Graning said.
“(Thursday) night we’ll see widespread temperatures in the low 30s across the Northland,” she said.
Duluth’s normal low at this time of the year is in the upper 40s, Graning said. The average date when the temperature first goes below freezing is Sept. 30 in Duluth, Sept. 13 in International Falls, and Sept. 8 in Hibbing.
The cold spell comes in the wake of a front that brought wind gusts above 30 mph in downtown Duluth on Wednesday, Graning said. Ship crews reported Lake Superior waves ranging from 8 to 15 feet.
The system brought only a quarter-inch of rain to Duluth. But between 1 and 3 inches of rain fell across much of Northwestern Wisconsin, with 5 inches of rain in parts of Burnett County.
Lake Superior waters spilled over Maslowski Beach and an adjacent parking lot in Ashland on Wednesday, Graning said. Winds were stronger in that area than in the Twin Ports, she said.
Longtime Park Point resident Tom Mackay said that with relatively high water levels in the lake, he’s concerned about what would happen if the Twin Ports took a direct hit.
The water level in his backyard hasn’t been as high as it is now since 1985.
“There’s absolutely no beach,” he said.
In August, Lake Superior’s water level was its highest in 18 years and was 8 inches above its level at the same time last year, according to the International Lake Superior Board of Control.
