August 2011

Thursday August 11th, 2011

Greetings and welcome!

We have more than a weather update to talk about today.

Probably the most exciting news comes from the Lakewood Zoo. They got a rare group of 3 lions and 3 white tigers that actually live together and get along from a private zoo in Texas. Generally those species don’t play nice together, but since they were raised together they are fine.

So they added 6 big cats to their exhibits, 3 African Lions and three white Siberian tigers. The surprise came when they were loading the cats and one tiger didn’t want to go. A look inside their cave showed why.. Four brand new baby tigers!

All of the big cats are in Lakewood Zoo now, and the four baby tigers are in a play pen in the gift shop. Also check out their Facebook page, where they have updates and pictures. Here is a link to a local news report too.

Speaking of the Lakewood Zoo, they are having a big Zoo Fest at the Mountain Community Center this Friday and Saturday. There will be live music, carnival games, a petting zoo, hay rides, a flee market, horseshoe and baseball tournaments, and an antique tractor show. The owner of the zoo also runs 5 Star Fireworks, a big show outfit, so they will be having a big fireworks display both nights at dusk. Their Facebook page mentioned that they will have two of the new tiger babies there too.

The Zoo Fest benefits the zoo and the Mountain Horseshoe Club. It is going on 6pm- midnight Friday and 9am to midnight Saturday.

Also missed in this week’s event list.. The Roberts Lake 36th Annual Corn Roast and Fisherie is going on this Saturday near Waubeno.

This weekend should be good for fishing. It looks like a full moon Saturday, and the weather looks unsettled.

This week has featured very pleasant weather. Temperatures were in the mid-70s all week and there were a few sprinkles Tuesday afternoon. Some friends golfing in Lakewood said that it was a lot more than sprinkles there, as they golfed 3 holes in the rain before giving up (right before the rain stopped).

The NWS has us for minor chances of rain later today and tonight, with 30 and 20% respectively. Friday the chances go up to 40% and Friday night and Saturday they jump to 70%.

There is an approaching low pressure system and associated fronts making thier way toward WI. Exactly how that will unfold Saturday brings varied opinions.

The NAM and HPC versions have the low tracking across the center of the state, bring a little heavier pockets of rain. The HPC has us for 0.25-0.5″ for Friday night and again Saturday.

The GFS is tracking the low pressure area much farther south over Northern IL. That puts us in the 0.1-0.25″ band (total for the whole weekend) with the rest of the state seeing a possible 0.25-0.5″.

The GFS is a lot more desirable scenario, that would be scattered showers that wouldn’t affect the weekend very much.

Well the day is ticking away and the list isn’t much shorter, so I have to run along. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday August 9th, 2011

Greetings and welcome!

The weather for last weekend worked out better than predicted, and it turned out to be a mostly nice weekend. There were a lot of people around and a lot of events happening too. It was a good weekend to be around the area.

This week looks very nice for weather.  The recent heatwave has broken, and we are expecting temps in the 70s all week. That is a wonderful thing on so many levels. Not only will my air conditioner not be grinding up 50 dollar bills, a person can actually go outside and get some work done in reasonable comfort.

I have a lot of inside work to do, but the outside work has been really stacking up.  There is grass to cut, truck and equipment repairs, firewood to cut, and so much more that I refused to tackle when it was 95 and humid.

Today feels like a heavy duty day with mid-70s, an overcast, and a nice breeze. Lawn care and truck repairs are high on the list, but getting ready for firewood is big too.

The last few summers have been cool and slow for work and I had already put up a couple of cords of wood for winter by now. This summer has been hot and busy, so the only wood so far is the tree that fell across the road. That has been haunting me pretty bad, so the top of the list is probably getting the saw, truck and trailer ready for logging and maybe a run for saw gas too.

The weather this week looks to stay below the upper 70s right through the weekend. There are minor chances of rain today and maybe Thursday. The main rain maker looks like the low pressure area and cold front for about Friday night or early Saturday morning. That looks pretty minor, and should mostly usher in a pleasant weekend for all of the events.

The headliner event is the local 34th Annual Silver Cliff Fire & Rescue Aux. Picnic and Parade. The parade starts at 10am at Boat Landing 11 Rd and Hwy C and goes east to the picnic grounds, where the picnic starts at 11.

With the summer tourism season coming to a close in a couple of weeks gas prices should see a lot of downward pressure. Adding to the effect that some of our government’s moves have had on markets, it is already starting.

On Aug 1 NYMEX RBOB gas was at $3.05, at the moment it is at $2.72. My usual formula adds 65-75 cents to get the pump price. At that point we should see gas head for the 3.50-3.60 range soon. It is a start.

Work on Parkway North (Hwy I) has been progressing this summer. Last week they had it graded out pretty good and had cut away to adjoining roads and driveway aprons so that the new asphalt would match up. Presumably they will be paving it soon.

That project stretches from Hwy C up to Wolfe Lane for this year. The way that I understand it, they will do a section at a time working up to Goodman Park in a few years. I saw in the Silver Cliff Newsletter that the stretch of C from the county line 6 miles back is still on the 2014 schedule.

That is about it from here. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday August 5th 2010

Greetings and welcome!

Sorry I am so late with my late week update, I have been a very busy boy this week.

The weather forecast looks like any summer weekend. Saturday looks warm with a chance of showers and storms brewing up. The atmosphere will have some energy to offer if convection can get something brewing, but not enough to get severe. The NWS puts chances of rain Saturday at 30%.

There is a low pressure system headed our way and a cold front over the UP. As either approaches the area rain chances will increase. The latest guess has the low passing through late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. That will likely bring some rain and storms to northern WI. The HPC QPF for the whole weekend has us on the border between 0.25-0.5″ and 0.5-1.0″ of rainfall.

I am not expecting a big washout for the weekend, but rather storms for an hour or three Saturday late afternoon and Sunday morning,  and mostly nice weather.

The crescent moon isn’t a peak time on the solunar tables, but the approaching low pressure is definitely a fisherman’s friend.

My predictions for the river levels for the weekend came up a little short. I had guessed that the Peshtigo would hit the 4-6 range. ( Game show buzzer sound) It peaked at about +2 and is headed for about +1 for tomorrow. That is still well above normal for this weekend. The median flow for the past 12 years on today’s date is 217cfs and we are running at 335. Not bad.

We have a lot of events this weekend. I will refer you to my previous update for the big list. One addition is the adult big wheel races on Blueberry Hill at 2pm tomorrow. The sign last year mentioned that it was full contact. Yee ha!

Beyond that my next pick would be the Jumpin’ Jimmie’s Car Show at Curve Inn. They are having live music, a pig roast, a corn roast, raffles, and of course a big car show.

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

RJB

Wednesday August 3rd, 2011

Greetings and welcome!

It was a weekend full of surprises. Saturday afternoon was supposed to be sunny and hot. It was, but about 3pm a big storm came through. That was not in the plan at all.

The storm featured some very strong wind gusts on the leading edge. Some peak gust measurements were in the 60mph range. There were a lot of small branches down and a few trees and bigger limbs too. It knocked out power for a lot of people in the northern half of the state, including here for 6 hours Sunday while they did repairs.

About 3pm Saturday the sky got really dark and I headed in to check  the radar. There was a fairly intense leading line and then more moderate rain behind it. The intense stuff blew through quickly, with the line moving east at 50mph. The rest of the rain took about 2 hours to clear out.

In front of the line of storms we had a hot day that got close to 90. Behind the storm the local weather stations were reporting temperatures of about 66, a solid 20 degree temperature drop. A hot day that found me in the river twice ended in jeans.  It also ended up being a pleasant night when we were down at Rustic Fest for some music.

The Saturday storm came as a surprise. When I did my weather research Friday, it showed us clear and under high pressure. It was a pretty big miss. Big H said that the Accuweather gadget on the left side of the page actually called it, including a 90% chance.

As far as damage- there was some but it was scattered. There were branches down and the occasional tree. I heard that the Wheeler Lake area had some trees down, and there are probably other localized areas with some damage. Most of what I saw was dead fall, with the occasional live oak or maple branch. The strong winds were pretty brief or it could have been worse.

We were expecting the storms Sunday afternoon, not Saturday. They never did return Sunday, and Sunday and Monday were nice days. Monday night and Tuesday brought more rain and some thunderstorms.  Those were a little milder and we saw about 3/4″ of rain. Areas to our northwest saw more, and areas northwest of about Rhinelander saw as much as 4″ of rain.

That rain will boost the Peshtigo River for rafting this weekend and put it well above normal.  Right now my guess is in the +4-6 range, with a chance of +8. The watershed saw a nice drink of rain.

The weather ahead this week looks clear at the moment until the weekend. That is a change from yesterday when the forecast held the possibility of rain Thursday or Friday. The current version has a chance of rain about Saturday night as a small system makes a quick pass through the region. The HPC has us bordering the 0.1-0.25″ to 0.25-0.5″ ranges for rainfall forecasts. Keep an eye on the timing this one, it could change.

We have some events this weekend. The annual Tug of War across the river between the Peshtigo River Resort and Dockside is this Saturday. Either place will be having a lot of fun with it.

Here is Chris’s listing..

That is a lot of events!

Summer is getting short with only 4 weekends left before Labor Day. Don’t wait too long to enjoy it!

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB