2012

Wednesday July 18th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

It was an interesting weekend in a lot of ways last weekend. Saturday morning I checked the weather forecast and it had changed from my 40-50% chance and don’t let it guide your weekend to “Numerous showers & Thunderstorms..70% chance..”. Doh! As it turned out we had some big clouds, and a few even rumbled, but I only got sprinkled on a little twice, and it was pretty minimal.

A few people reported that at the Athelstane Fireman’s picnic that there was pretty good rain on one side of the pavilion and none on the other. I have seen that trick before. It is pretty wild seeing it pour on the other side of the road while you sit dry.

Steve from Athelstane Weather sent in some very nice northern lights pictures from last Saturday night. He was by where Hwy X crosses the High Falls Flowage, and it gave him a good north view.

This was one of the best shows I have seen in awhile and figure since we are still climbing up the 11 year cycle we will be seeing more. Things sparked up around midnight and at one point they were directly overhead. They were very bright and very easy to see with the naked eye along with all the colors. I had a hard time deciding where to point the camera because they were all around in spectacular fashion. My next lens purchase is going to be something in the order of a 14mm so I can get more of the action in one shot.

Those are great pictures, thank you very much for sharing with us Steve!

He is right that we should see more northern lights displays too. Solar Cycle 24 is expected to peak in May or June of 2013. Get it while you can, the peak of solar cycle 25 isn’t until 2024 or so, and they think it will be a dud of a peak, something along the lines of the Dalton Minimum. That is a little OT for here, but I encourage you to go and check it out. Link 1 Link 2

Last weekend was pretty fun at Kosir’s. The river was good enough and people were having a great time. There was rafting and tubing, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and a lot of nice people.

Critter sightings are up this week. Sightings include a small bear, several deer, a skunk, a porcupine, a fox, and this guy, a pretty decent sized grass snake.

This coming weekend is one of the biggest of the summer. It is Hog Wrestling weekend at Caldron Falls Bar. That is a huge event that draws thousands of people to the area. It is always a very busy weekend.

A few miles to the south they are having a live band at Curve Inn Friday and Saturday night.

The Doty Fireman’s Picnic is this weekend.

Here is Chris’ event calendar…

I also saw signs in town that the Townsend fireworks display was rescheduled for Saturday July 28th at dusk.

One of my neighbors asked how the berries were coming along. We both have ample black raspberry bushes. They are still hard little acorns, and not quite ready yet.

I chuckled a little when she asked about it. Last year I saw that the berries were ripe and plentiful. A few days later when I had time I went out to the patch with a 5 gallon pail thinking I was about to harvest the loaves & the fishes of black raspberry crops.

Much to my surprise, there wasn’t a berry in sight anywhere, the bushes were stripped clean.  I started looking for tracks to see who the perps were, and there were none. About then I spotted a chippy as he ran up a cane, tipped it to the ground and started feasting on what was left of the berries. Mystery solved.

Well it is getting late so I have to run. I will be back Thursday with the weekend weather forecast ( mid-80s, 30% chance of storms Sunday), more on the hog wrestling at Caldron Falls Bar, and whatever else comes up. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday July 12th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

Last weekend on the river was a blast. A lot of people took to the river and there were epic flips, spills, and wipe outs.

The river didn’t get quite as high as I expected from the second round of rain, but it was pretty close, and it stayed high right through the weekend. It started dropping Monday, and is still in the 300CFS range, and still in the fun zone, but a little more normal for this time of year.

The weekend also brought a break from the near triple digit temperatures that we saw last week and a lot of people were happy about that too.

This weekend’s weather looks a lot like summer. We are expecting highs in the mid-80s, lows in the 60s, and a chance of thunderstorms daily.

There isn’t really an organized storm or front, so it is hard to guess where or when it will rain. It is more a matter of the heat of the day stirring up some summer storms. The atmosphere will be fairly juicy, so there is a chance that some storms could bring some torrential rains, but no one is expecting severe weather, at least not yet.

The NWS is looking at a 50% chance Saturday, and a 40% chance Saturday night and Sunday. There is a chance of getting wet, but it doesn’t look like an all day rain, so I wouldn’t let it guide my weekend too much. The expected rainfall (QPF) from the HPC has us in the 0.25-0.5″ band, but again there could be localized rain that could add up to more in a downpour.

We have some events to talk about for this weekend. The Athelstane Fireman’s Picnic and parade is Saturday, Lakewood is having their Mardi Gras, The nice folks over at Bear Point Yacht Club will be floating the Menominee River, and Fisher’s Camp is having the Redneck Yacht Club build your own boat race on Caldron Falls Flowage.

The Bear Point float trip starts fairly early with shuttles to get people to the landing in Wausaukee. People will be floating down in anything from a tube to a pontoon boat. Bring a life jacket and whatever makes your day fun and comfortable. There is usually a party back at the BPYC after the float trip.

The build your own boat race at Fisher’s Camp sounds fun too. You can’t use a boat hull to base it on, you have to build your own, and it has to use at least one roll of duct tape. I would expect some pretty creative entries.

Anyway, here is Chris’s list..

The Hog Wrestling at Caldron Falls Bar made the list as a heads up. That isn’t this weekend, it is next weekend. It is always the third Saturday in July. That is a pretty big affair, with literally thousands of people making the annual event.

Work calls, so I have to go and attend to other things. I will update again tomorrow if I missed anything.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Saturday July 7- Late Morning Update

The subsequent waves of storms last night brought a lot more rain, along with the big light and sound show. Radar return totals in the Peshtigo watershed ended up being 2-3″, with one spot marking 3-4″. The Pesh is already at a record setting +8″ and it will be climbing all weekend. My estimates of +10 to +12 on the river by Sunday are starting to seem a little low. Go rafting if you can, it doesn’t get much better than this in July.

RJB

PS- I did a Friday afternoon update with the weekend events on it, but it got pushed back by the high water updates. See below.

Saturday July 7th, 2012-Overnight Update

High Water Alert! The Peshtigo is going to be rocking this weekend!

1:30am

The second of what looks like three or more waves of storms just finished rolling through the area. The second was a good one around here, with a big light show of almost continuous lightning and the accompanying thunder, and of course torrential downpours.

The first wave stayed mostly to the north, though we could see the frequent lightning and we got a little rain out of it. The third wave is still over near Eagle River, and is moving east at about 20mph.

This week I said that the transition from 90s and humid to 81 and pleasant probably wouldn’t be a quiet one. Apparently I called that one. The radar summary is showing the storms having tops that reach 50 and 60 thousand feet up into the atmosphere. That is pretty significant, and as a result we are seeing significant rains and a big light and sound show. Thankfully none have gone severe.

The people that are lucky enough to be whitewater rafting on the Peshtigo River by Kosir’s this weekend are in for a spectacular ride. It looks like we will be smashing the record high water levels for today, and the river will be on the rise. A rising river is always a fun one, and the Peshtigo River will be on the way up all weekend.

Right now the river is at about a +6″. It is running at 477CFS for volume, down 5% from the crest yesterday of 503. The record for today (Sat) in the 14 year history of the USGS gauge is 493. That record WILL be smashed today. There is no ambiguity there.

The first and second waves of rain hit the Peshtigo River watershed quite nicely, and the third is lined up to hit it again in a few hours. Radar returns are showing an inch to an inch and a half from the first two waves, and the third wave is not a small one.

Here is the key… The Peshtigo River watershed is fairly long and narrow. The rain that hit Monday really started raising the river Wednesday because it hit in the upper reaches of the watershed near Laona and Crandon. There is a 2-3 day delay as the rush of water winds it’s way to the whitewater section. That will happen again, but because the first two waves also hit the close reaches of the watershed between here and Armstrong Creek, the rise will start almost immediately. Weekend paddlers are going to have primo water levels and a rising river.

It looks like another wave brewed up in between what I saw as the second and third waves, and it announced itself in grand fashion. I was taking advantage of the break in the rain to walk out to the truck when a lightning bolt hit by the bend in the road <200′ away in the direction that I was looking/walking. That will wake a guy up.

Whatever the case, we already have enough rainfall from early week to make this weekend’s whitewater rafting happen on near record river levels. With the rain tonight there is no question that we will smash that record running away.

It am a little cautious about predicting a final level, but I will do it anyway. Considering tonight’s rain, the already high river, and the moderately high soil moisture, I would expect to see +10-12″ by Sunday. It could be more, but I am fairly comfortable in a 4-6″ rise for now.

Anyway if you are even remotely inclined to do some whitewater rafting, pay Kosir’s a visit over the weekend or early next week and catch some spectacular water levels for this time of year.The rocks that people got stuck on last weekend will be under a foot or foot and a half of water.

Have a fun and safe weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB