JACKSONPORT, WI (WTAQ) – As always, hundreds of people started their New Year by plunging into cold Wisconsin waters.
This week’s sub-zero weather ended just in time for more comfortable plunges into Lake Michigan at Milwaukee and the Door County community of Jacksonport.
Temperatures at both spots were in the low 20’s, with a water temperature of 35.
More than two dozen people plunged into Lake Petenwell in the Adams County town of Rome, in the 18th annual benefit for the Children’s Miracle Network. Others plunged at Waupaca in a fundraiser for the local fire department.
In Milwaukee, Fire Department lieutenant Thomas Treutelaar said he plunged himself in an earlier life — so he understands the attraction. He calls it an “exhilarating rush” that can get folks pumped up all day.
Treutelaar says he has never seen anyone get heart attacks or really serious health issues from plunging — but people do get cuts on their feet, and frostbite if they hang around too long after leaving the water.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
