2010

Friday September 2nd, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

We have a few things to update today. Yesterday’s report is below.

First up, the rain yesterday.. Yesterday’s rain came in two main waves. The second one started about dinner time and was the bigger of the two. The rainfall added up to between 0.8″ and 2.0″ according to the various gauges and radar returns. We got pounded pretty good here, but my bucket was not reset, so I don’t have a good tally.

Today is cool and breezy with a mix of clouds and sun. Right now we are just over 60F. The wind changes moment to moment, sometimes calm, sometimes gusty. Athelstane Weather did record a gust of 35 at some point today. The wind and chance of rain remains through this evening, but the strongest of the storm has passed.

The storm has continued to strengthen as it moves away and picks up the energy from the hurricane. The models are showing it getting down to a 980 central pressure at it’s peak, a very strong storm. Some people on the east coast and eastern half of Canada are not going to have a nice weekend for weather. Thankfully we got in on it early and it will be well to our east and north.

Things look a little better for the weekend than they did. The forecasters have moderated a little in their temperature predictions, and now we are looking for mid-60s Saturday, about 70 Sunday and mid-70s Monday. Low temps are also up a little in the forecast. They did enter a chance of rain on Monday, but from my research that looks minor until late in the day.

The rain has also given the whitewater rafting a nice boost. The Peshtigo came up to almost 200cfs, and based on how much rain we had and where it hit in the watershed, it should rise more over the weekend. A rising river is a fun river, and that is my prediction.

Along that same line, the rivers that flow to our waterfalls will benefit from the rain, so a waterfall tour is on the list of recommended activities.

Don’t let the cool start to the weekend throw you. It is not as bad as it sounds. There is a storm hot on the heels of this one that will bring rain Monday night. In advance of that storm we will see the winds shift from the northeast to the west and southwest and it will warm things up a little as the weekend progresses.

Sunny 65 for Saturday and 70 for Sunday sounds good, and so does increasing clouds and mid-70s for Monday. After tonight I am really expecting a really nice weekend. Saturday is probably the most notable-when some wind and a cool day meet the sunset under a clear sky, it will cool off.

With the cool day outside I am off to go and tackle a bunch of projects that I put off in the heat & humidity that we recently enjoyed.  It is perfect weather for outside work, I can wear long pants, but don’t need a jacket, and the wind will cool me off as I work.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday’s Update

Today I have more than 15 minutes to work on my report. My apologies for Tuesday’s hit n run.

It is rumbling outside as of 10:30 this morning, and we have had some decent waves of rain in the last hour or so. The storm that it is associated with will bring us rain ahead of the weekend, but is not expected to linger into Friday night or Saturday.

The storm itself is interesting. It is a big one with Gulf of Mexico moisture support and plenty of cold air for temperature contrast. It is strengthening as it passes over the UP and Lake Superior on its journey NE.

The temperature gradient is what catches my eye this morning. On one side of the storm we have 3ºC air up in Canada. On the south and west periphery of the storm temps are 21ºC, and on the east and south edges, 15-18ºC. That is a lot of temperature contrast, so there should be a lot of energy associated with the storm, especially when the hurricane joins forces with the low off of the east coast Friday.

The end result for us looks like rain now through Friday, followed by a cool weekend and some wind. As the storm passes, we will get some of that Canadian air. Friday night the maps are showing me 0ºC 850mb level temps, almost cold enough to snow (-4ºC) in the upper atmosphere.

The end result? Friday night’s forecast from the NWS is for lows in the middle 40s, with northwest wind 15 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph after midnight.

Saturday we are looking at highs in the low to mid-60s, again with 10-15mph winds. Saturday night should bring low 40s, and Sunday should bring a high of about 70. Look for upper 40s Sunday night and mid-70s Monday.

So, if you are planning outside stuff for this weekend, it will be nice, but on the cool side.  It will be warming as the weekend progresses but bring fall gear as well as summer stuff.

A couple of thoughts on the storm.. One.. If it were January it would be a classic winter storm. Warm in front, starts with rain and changes to snow, followed by some wind and cold out of the northwest. I’d guess it for 6-8″, maybe more.

Two.. The contrast in temperatures had me running the AC a little while last night to get rid of the stickiness, tomorrow night I’ll be rolled up in the blankets. I guess that temperature diversity is why I have so much stuff in my truck like shorts & Repel, plus long pants and a jacket. I took the mittens out in July.

Tuesday night I was out and spotted my buck again. He was a mile north of where he was before, and this time ran along the side of the road. I got another good look at him, and he was a pretty decent deer.

On the way back I ran into a line of showers and storms, or more accurately, two of them. There were a couple of lines of heavy rain and thunderstorms Tuesday night. They did not last long, but it was a good sky show. Area stations reported <1/4″ rainfall totals.

I was cleaning up my movie computer the other day and ran into some pictures that I never posted. This was the summer of the mushroom in my travels. July in particular had a lot of wet weather, and it was not lost on the world of fungus. Several times after taking pictures of a raft trip I would see how many different kinds of mushrooms I could photograph in the 1/2 mile or so walk back to the truck. This slideshow is from a single walk on August 1st.

(Click a picture to make it bigger, then hover your curser on the left or right side of the picture to advance to the next slide)

That is pretty amazing for a 1/2 mile walk in the woods. I thought maybe it was from a couple of them, but no, the file numbers are continuous. Yes there are several repeats, but still it is a lot of variety.

That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday August 31, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

I sure hate to see summer go, but here we are again. Tomorrow is the first day of September.

We have some interesting weather coming up this week. Today looks wet, tonight too. Then we get a short break, and late week should bring more rain. The NWS says the weekend will be nice and in the upper 60s and low 70s. I haven’t had a chance to check for myself and I have one foot on the path, so for now I will take their word on it.

The night skies finally got dark starting Sunday night. The last few nights have featured great stars until the moon rose.

I saw my buck again last night. He was about a mile farther north this time, and instead of running in front of the truck, he ran along the road looking for an opening. He still looked pretty nice.

It has been a busy few weeks for me, and apparently this one isn’t any different. I have to run off, but I wanted to at least cover the basics first. Sorry.

RJB

Here are some events..

Friday August 27th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

Hey that’s not later.. that’s tomorrow.  Sorry, but it will be worth it.

Let us start with the easy stuff. The weather looks excellent for the weekend. We are under the center of a big area of high pressure and bluebird weather and mid-80s is what is on tap.

As the high pressure slowly moves east it will warm up a little. Highs today look like 82-85, tomorrow about 85, and Sunday in the upper 80s. Overnight lows should go from upper 50s to low 60s.

Like I said it looks like a bluebird weekend. It is the second last weekend of summer and a great chance to go camping/rafting/tubing/kayaking/fishing/hiking/biking/BBQing and all of the other fun stuff that we do around here. I caught on the Kosir’s blog that tubing is on special, only $5.

Rafting this weekend should be good for late August. The Menominee is saving the day with it’s dam controlled flows and giving people great raft trips.

The Peshtigo is just below normal, which at this time of year is a little rocky. Normal flow is 187, we are at 177, and I like to see it over 200CFS. It sn’t as bad as it could be, but it is low. We did not see rain this week for the first time since June.

The night skies will be nice too. We have a big bright waning moon that will be up all night. Last night it was aligned with a bright planet or star and made a good show, the night before I caught a planet a little after sunset.

I got an e-mail this morning that you will want to know about. Steve at Athelstane Weather set up a cool new web cam. This one is a very sensitive high res camera pointing up at the northern sky. It is actually a 5 megapixel digital camera with a very light sensitive lens (F1.8).  He said that it might wash out a little because of the bright moon, but it works great on dark skies.

You should be able to see stars, meteors, and the northern lights very well with it, as well as the current sky conditions day or night. Athelstane weather is already a great resource. I use it all of the time. This new camera is a great addition.

Someone asked about the lack of northern lights a while back. That should be getting better soon. Solar cycle 24 has been very late and slow to ramp up. It does not look like a real active cycle, in fact they are comparing it to the Dalton Minimum. Other articles that I have seen are looking for a peak of about 75 on that chart for solar cycle 24.

However, more recently solar flux is up a little and there are a few small sun spots. It is still very low, but it is on the way up. As it progresses the chances of seeing northern lights will increase.

I did not light the wood burner yesterday morning. It was cold enough, but I manned up and slept through it. We saw a low of 44.2F, according to Athelstane Weather. It was, to use a technical term, nippy.

We do not have any rain in the forecast until next Wednesday. As the big high pressure moves off to the east, eventually the southwest flow on the back of it will come our way. Look for increasing temps and humidity after the weekend.

There is debate about how much rain the back of the high will bring. The model I saw last night showed active weather with the jet stream right over us, and several inches of rain possible. The TV this morning is only showing minor rain. My bet is on the first option. If the jet stream sits over us for a couple of days in those conditions we could clearly see some rain add up.

In events we have the Oconto County and Marinette County Fairs this weekend. Marinette County’s is in Wausaukee, Oconto County’s is in Gillet.

Well, I am off to go and dive into another really full day. Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday August 26th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

Dude where’s my Carhartts?

Chris and I have discussed at length my claim to have run the wood burner at least once every month of last year. June was early, the Saturday of the 3rd week in July was in the mid-40s, and I am sure that we had a night like tonight last August.

The wood burner isn’t burning, but my bet is that it will be in the morning. As of 2am, Athelstane Weather has 46 degrees, and it is dropping 1.3ºF per hour. That is about right for a Guinness, but on the cool side for August. Sounds about right for a popple fire in the AM too.

We are on the northern side of a massive high pressure system. Between the cool air from the north and the clear skies permitting radiational cooling, it is the coolest night in memory. Last night was close with 48, and I will testify that the open window above me as I slept left me chilly in the morning. It was different rolling up in the blanket instead of kicking it off.

The cool and clear nights usually are good for star gazing. We have an incredible globe of stars on display on nights like this. This week we also have a waning moon about 4 days off of being full. It was good and bright tonight, but I still saw a planet in the west sky a little after sunset.

Speaking of looking up, Jack Horkheimer died this week. He is the goofy guy on PBS that sat on the rings of Saturn and told us what wonders the night’s sky would hold for us. He turned me onto a lot of cool skies that I would have otherwise missed, and you sure couldn’t knock his enthusiasm.

Jack Foley Horkheimer , June 11, 1938 – August 20, 2010

RIP buddy, and Keep Looking Up!

A look at Chris’ event calendar shows that it is County Fair Week for both Marinette and Oconto Counties.

Aug. 26 – 29 Marinette County Fairgrounds Wausaukee Marinette County Fair

Demoliton derbies, truck and tractor pulls, animal judging, exhibits, bands, family entertainment and carnival

Aug. 26 – 29 Zippel Park in Gillett, Oconto County Fair

Demoliton derbies, horse, truck and tractor pulls, animal judging, exhibits, bands, family entertainment and carnival

Sunday we had fun when we went on Kosir’s sit on top kayaks and paddled from the resort down to Caldron Falls Flowage. It was a great day for it, and  a bunch of us went and had a ball.

One guy was fishing on the way down and hooked a tree. I couldn’t resist, and promptly asked him if that was a big ol basswood that he caught. Yes it was very fun, and plenty scenic and relaxing too.

Since then I have really filled up the days. I just finished dinner and it is 1:45am. Tomorrow looks full too.

In my travels I noticed that the deer are dumber than usual running out in front of the truck. I don’t blame the rut since it is a little early, and they were all does.

Something that struck me as a little odd was when I spotted a flock of Canadian geese in the neighbor’s field yesterday. Unless those are local birds it is a little early isn’t it?

I looked at the upcoming bow deer season dates and saw that it opens September 18th. On the way there I lso saw that we are in an area of management zones for bucks only this gun season. I didn’t investigate beyond this map. http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/HUNT/DEER/dmu.htm

I apologize for not getting a Tuesday report posted. As I mentioned I have been really filling the days up this week. last week I finally made two updates on deadline, and this week it didn’t happen again. I did update the snowmobile page though.

That is about it for tonight. I will return with the weather and any updates later today.

Have a good night and thank you for visiting!

RJB