The Topline: Minnesota anglers are inadvertently killing off loons

Photo via Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Welcome to The Topline, a weekly roundup of the big numbers driving the Minnesota news cycle, as well as the smaller ones that you might have missed. This week: Midwestern weather predictability; loon deaths from lead tackle; and puddles vs. lakes in Wisconsin.

The Midwest has the nation’s least predictable weather

There’s a saying I’ve heard pretty much everywhere I’ve traveled in the U.S.: “If you don’t like the weather in [insert locality name here], just wait a day!”

The idea is that the weather there is especially chaotic and unpredictable, prone to wild day-to-day fluctuations. Last week the Washington Post set out to map exactly where in the U.S. the weather is hardest to forecast .

They found that in aggregate the Plains states have the nation’s least predictable weather, with temperature forecasts that are reliable no more than two days out. East of the Mississippi, meteorologists can accurately predict temperatures three to four days out, while in parts of Florida and the Southwest the weather changes so infrequently that forecasts are good for more than a week.

There are some pockets of extreme unpredictability, however. In one Montana town, forecasters are typically unable to get the next day’s temperature right within six degrees, owing in part to how mountains inject unpredictability into weather patterns.

Here in Minnesota, it looks like Duluth has the least predictable weather, with accuracy typically only guaranteed one day out, and summer being an especially chaotic time. Twin Cities forecasts are good for about two days, with little difference between summer and winter.

One quarter of adult loon deaths are from lead fishing tackle

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recently reminded anglers of an astonishing (and depressing) fact: fully one-quarter of adult loon deaths in the country are caused by lead fishing tackle .

What happens is a fish gets away with a lead lure either inside it or attached to its mouth, and that fish subsequently gets devoured by a loon. The birds have also been known to scoop up lead sinkers at the bottom of lakes. Once they’ve eaten some lead, death is slow and painful.

In the absence of legislative action on the issue, the PCA can only beg anglers not to use the stuff.

Wisconsin still counts ponds and puddles as lakes

I thought this issue had been settled years ago but last week the Star Tribune reminded readers that the state of Wisconsin still makes the ridiculous claim that it has more lakes than Minnesota.

It boils down to this: Wisconsin counts any body of water greater than 2.2 acres as a lake, while in Minnesota the minimum is 10 acres. If Wisconsin used Minnesota’s more sensible definition, which it should, it would slash its number of “lakes” by more than half.

On the other hand, interstate bickering over the definition of a lake is very funny and is the kind of Midwest parochialism that gives me life.

The post The Topline: Minnesota anglers are inadvertently killing off loons appeared first on Minnesota Reformer .