CASS LAKE, Minn. – September 04, 2026 (Minnesota Nice News)
A security camera at Tom’s Harbor recorded about a minute of cloud-to-cloud lightning over Star Island on Thursday night, lighting the water and the treeline with almost no thunder reaching shore.
The flashes stayed between the clouds rather than reaching the ground. The camera faces north across open water, and with no yard light between the shore and the island, the whole treeline went from silhouette to dark and back every few seconds. Star Island is the largest of four islands in Cass Lake, with more than eight miles of shoreline across 980 acres of public land and private homes. Six miles of trail run the high banks and deep woods. The Forest Service manages the island for scenic and recreational use, and it sits inside the Chippewa National Forest’s 10-section area, protected from timber cutting since 1902. The old-growth pine draws bald eagles.
Lake Windigo sits inside the island, 199 acres and 25 feet at its deepest, reached by a short portage from the north shore. It holds northern pike and walleye in small numbers and panfish in large ones, and it is best worked from a canoe or a rowboat.
Nights like Thursday are running out. Frost risk around the area begins in the second week of September, and by early October a freezing night is close to certain, according to Minnesota DNR probability records.
The longer outlook leans warm. The NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s three-month forecast, issued Aug. 20 for September through November, puts Minnesota on the warm side of average, with precipitation a toss-up. A strengthening El Niño is behind it. A warm three-month average does not move the first frost, though.
The clip runs about a minute and is posted above, unedited.
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Writing By: Pete Novak | Editing by Gregory Moyer
EDITOR’S NOTE:
SOURCES
Star Island, Chippewa National Forest U.S. Forest Service: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/poi/249514
Northwoods Adventure: The Legend of Star Island Lakeland PBS: https://lptv.org/northwoods-adventure-the-legend-of-star-island/
Final spring/first fall freeze and frost date probabilities Minnesota DNR: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries_and_publications/freeze_date.html
“El Niño” is Coming. What Might That Mean for Minnesota’s Weather? Minnesota DNR: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/el-nino-2026.html
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