Tuesday April 19th, 2011
10pm
Greetings and welcome!
The storm did not hit here like it did 50 or 100 miles south. As of 10pm I have about 1-2″ down and it is pretty much over for now.
A lot of the snow fell on radar but not on the ground, and quite a bit melted on contact. It finally started snowing a little before sunset, and at last light I had an inch or so down.
Farther south they got nailed. Green Bay saw 8.7″, the most in a 24 hour period this late in the year. Apparently there are some big power lines down on I-43 on the west side by Atkinson Dr that has shut down the highway until morning.
From Green Bay south and west saw about 6-8″. There was a lot of lightning with this storm, so some had thundersnow.
The storm supporting this is a doozy. There are watches or warnings from Dallas, TX to Columbus, OH and on up to Sault St Marie. The radar shows a lot of red and orange, and some ugly hook echos too. Usually they mean supercells and tornadoes.
Anyway, the storm didn’t add up to much around here. Farther south they got spanked.
Have a good night and thank you for visiting!
RJB
2pm
Greetings and welcome!
So far the storm has been staying to our south. It looks like the area between Green Bay and Sheboygan are winning the contest at the moment. I have not seen precip here yet, but it feels like it is ready.
I still expect to see part of the storm make it this far north, but the higher end of the 5-8 or 6-12 predictions are not quite as likely. I am looking more for 2-4 or 3-6, but you never know.
I did my Lakewood-Townsend run this morning. Waubee Lake was still frozen except right by the Beach Club and one spot right across the lake. The Chain bay right north of Lakewood was tight and so was Townsend Flowage where you could see it from the road. There was some melting in spots and along edges, but it is not quite ready to float a boat.
Townsend Shell has good no-ethanol premium 93 gas, and it was $4.19, regular was $3.84. Thank Wall St speculators. We have a surplus of gas & oil, but thanks to speculation the market price has decoupled from the market conditions. ABC News last night had it pegged for a 30 cent a gallon cost, I’d put it closer to $1.50. We are not short on oil, it is more of a glut. I read yesterday that OPEC actually cut production slightly because there is plenty available. Grrr.
I forgot to do the wildlife update, so let’s do it now. The deer are out playing by the roadsides. With their coloring against the dead brown foliage they are really tough to spot until they move. Do beware.
Sunday I was down by the Tommy Thompson Park with some friends when we ran into a Tom turkey and his harem, and he was more than happy to display and strut for us. It was cool to see.
The frogs in the pond have been pretty quiet the past few days, even as the water in the pond rose. I haven’t seen the barred owl since a few days after I posted the picture. That time I got an idea where he roosts and where his nest is.
Last night the cat was yowling to go outside while I was making dinner. That stopped abruptly when the coyotes started making a big ruckus down by the pond. It was pretty loud even inside. I am not sure if they found a meal, love was in the air, or if they were calling here kitty kitty, but they were enthusiastic about it. The cat was considerably less so.
That is about it for now. I am off to deal with firewood before the snow starts. According to the radar I had better get on it.
RJB
7am
Greetings and welcome!
We are under a winter storm warning this morning. Right now it looks like the storm is going to hit the hardest between here and Green Bay, but we will likely still get a taste.
Checking the various regular sources and the RUC too, it looks like the models have the low going about 80 miles south of where yesterday’s scenario had it.
The NWS warning has us for a possible 5-8, and the TV weather channel is on board with that. In my opinion that might be a little strong, but we will see.
We are looking at between 0.5-1.0″ of rainfall equivalent, normally 6-12″ of snow. Between the heavier density snow, some possibly being a mix, and the first layers melting on the ground, it might add up to something more like 3-6 or 4-8.
I will also hold out the possibility that this might be a colder storm than expected. It is only in the mid-20ss right now, and there is more snow than expected on radar where the storm is hitting southern WI right now. Being on the northern part of it we might dodge the wet heavy snow thing.
As predicted, between the rain mix and heavier snow there is a chance that it will stick to tree branches and power lines and the gusty wind could take some down.
It looks like my day will be headlined by storm prep. There is firewood to work on, cover, and bring in. I will grab an extra couple of gallons of gas for the generator (or snowmobile?) and a few supplies in town. I’d already be at it, but it is only about 25 outside, so I am going to stall for an hour.
Someone asked about the ice going out on the flowages last week. They were pretty tight last week. They have come a long way since then. The landing by X & Parkway is still about half iced up. There was open water outside of the bay and by the bridge, but some ice yet. Caldron was clear of ice by Landing 11, but there was still ice downstream on the lake. I would expect that the wind from the storm will help break some of that up.
As of right now you could get onto the river end of Caldron. I would guess that you might be able to get into High Falls by 6 & 7, but might not get far. By X & Parkway was still too iced in.
I will get a look at Waubee Lake and Townsend Flowage later this morning according to the plan.
The snow is expected to start around here between about noon and 3pm and continue overnight. The Channel 11 Weather just showed us in the 6-9 band with the 9-11 band starting a few miles south of here.
RJB