I live in North Central Wisconsin - about 40 miles North of Wausau. While I feel for my friends with snowmobiles and the area resort / bar owners who rely heavily on snowmobiler business, for ice fishing this may be close to the ideal year so far. We had fishable ice in Mid-Nov. On Dec 3 we had 8" of clear, dark ice and I was able to use my UTV to get my permie on the lake. It's been fairly mild as far as temperatures vs. normal but we're still making ice and have 12-14" on most area lakes with minimal snow cover. We had a couple of 45F to near 50F days in December but with the sun so long in the sky and so little daylight the ice really wasn't impacted much at all and the lakes didn't even get slushy. We can drive to the shack in the trucks with ease. Lack of snow cover has made cleats on the feets also mandatory. First real cold snap is this weekend with 6-8F for highs but I'll be jigging in the shack. Now, things may turn to crap real quick but at least to this point if I'm going to complain when weather messes with the ice fishing, I at least have to acknowledge when things are good and this year has been tough to beat. Great mobility. Someone remind me I made this post when I'm digging my shack out of 3' of snow in a couple of weeks :0)
