Monday It's noon, and I'm watching an awesome army of mean looking clouds roar in from the lake. An hour ago the sun was peaking from its blue sky home through scattered clouds as they raced before the strong southerly warm winds that have been our lot for the last several days. At dawn the temperature was above sixty degrees. Now, suddenly, there is a cold chill in the air. The harbor water turns black, its waves in utter confusion as they scramble to comply with their new marching orders.
Street lights pop on as an eclipse like darkness ensues.
A rapidly moving mist evolves, blanking out the skyline and view into the hills above us. Strong wind gusts are pushing my wind guage up into the 40 to 50 knot range. The house shutters. Abby, the wonderdog, crawls under a chair. Up-bound laker skippers off the Keweenaw shore are busy on the marine frequencies, exchanging wind speed and direction information and modifying course to reduce wind loads on their high freeboards.