Friday July 12th, 2013
The Curve Inn is the place to be tomorrow night. They have a really good band playing, the No Schtick Band. They are very talented and they play music that makes people have fun and dance. Dance dance dance..
2013
Thursday July 11th, 2013
Greetings and welcome!
It has been an interesting week in weather. We started the week out with oppressive humidity that took dew points close to the 70 degree mark (tropical). We had an inch or so of fast heavy rain Monday that helped purge the atmosphere of some of the moisture, but it didn’t quite get the job done. There were scattered showers and thunderstorms again Tuesday. By Wednesday it was much more pleasant out.
In the process of the atmosphere purging there was severe weather in the region. Apparently there was a small tornado in southern Oconto County, Langlade Co, and one in Waupaca Co as well. Here is an article about it.
After the rain there was a big area of high pressure that moved over the central US. With its clockwise flow the high pressure brought cool dry northern air into the region and made for some pleasant days. That always comes at a price. The leading side of the high pressure brings air in from the north, but as it passes, the trailing side will pump warmer and more moist air up from the south.
Thankfully it is well timed for our weekend to be about in the middle of it, so we are looking at decent weather and mid-80s for Friday and Saturday. Sunday brings a 30 chance of rain and storms, and that will go up as Monday rolls around. I am going to put it out there that 30% seems a little low from what I am seeing on the models, but let’s go with it for now.
We have some events coming up this weekend.
Saturday is the Athelstane Fireman’s Picnic and parade. The parade starts at A & C at noon followed by the Picnic. Expect the standard food and drink, live music, raffles, and if memory serves me, they have water fights between fire departments too. That is held in the park on C just east of A right across from the Athelstane post office.
Lakewood is having their Mardi Gras Celebration this weekend, and that looks like big deal. They have live music Friday and Saturday nights, A parade Sunday at noon, carnival rides, and a lot of associated sales and events going on all weekend.
This is also the weekend of the first of three Bear Point Yacht Club floats down the Menominee River this summer. They start in Wausaukee and float down to Bear Point in anything from inner tubes to pontoon boats. After the float there is fun and friends back at the bar. Anyone can come and it is free, but you will want life jackets and kids will need to bring their adult.
In Wabeno there is big stuff going on. Here is a copy n paste from the town event calendar..
July 12, 13 and 14 Steam Up Days at Firefighters Park and Downtown Wabeno
Friday, the 12th , Firefighters Park
- Steam Up Days Pre-Registration,
- Fish Fry 5-9pm
- Firefighters Water Fight 6:30pm
- Music/Dance, Firefighters Park, 7-11pm
Saturday the 13th , All Around Town,
- Expo Events: Noon
- Arts and Craft Sales–Downtown Wabeno
- Crafters: Application for a Vendor Table
- Kids Tractor Pull, Firefighters Park, 1pm
- Human Foosball, Firefighters Park, 2pm
- Presbyterian Women’s Pie Sale, Firefighters Park
- Annual Wabeno Library Book Sale on Library Lawn, 9 am-3pm
- Rescue Squad, Loggers Breakfast, American Legion Hall, 6:30 am
- Wabeno Quilt Guild, Firefighters Park, 10am-3pm
- Pig Roast, Firefighters Park, 5pm
- Music/Dance, Firefighters Park, 7-11pm
Sunday the 14th, All Around Town
- Rescue Squad, Loggers Breakfast, American Legion Hall, 6:30 am
- Parade, Downtown Wabeno, Noon
- Wabeno Quilt Guild, Firefighters Park, Noon-3pm
- Horseshoe Tournament, Firefighters Park, 1:30pm
- Pig Wrestling, Firefighters Park, 2:00pm
- Music, Firefighters Park, 1:30pm
Next weekend is a big one for events too. That is the Saturday of the 28th Annual Hog Wrestling Competition at Caldron Falls Bar.
That usually brings thousands of people to the area along with food & refreshments and live music.
I also saw at the grocery store that next weekend is the Doty Fire Assn Picnic. That is held just north of Hwy 64 and just west of 32. Take Hwy T from 64 to Star Lake Rd and you are there. They will have raffles, meat raffles, games for the kids and the standard fare for a VFD picnic.
There are probably more events coming up next weekend, but that is all that I have in front of me at the moment.
The whitewater rafting will continue to be good this weekend. The inch plus of rain Monday brought the river up, and the waves of showers and storms Tuesday hit the watershed too. Right now the Peshtigo River is running about +4, above normal for this time of year and well into the fun zone.
The Menominee River is way above normal this week. That watershed really got pounded by the early week rain. The median flow for today is 1,610CFS, and it is running about 3,000. If you are up for some big water whitewater rafting, that is the hot ticket this weekend.
Well there is a lot going on this weekend and the weather looks nice. Get out there and have some fun while summer is still here.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB
Wednesday July 3rd, 2013
Greetings and welcome!
Q-Why does it always seem to rain on the night of the 4th of July? Is is the gunpowder smoke from the fireworks?
A- I’d bet against it, some of the old time rain makers didn’t have much success lighting off large amounts of gunpowder and explosives to bring rain. My guess is that it is caused by all of those people that washed their cars for the 4th of July parades.-RJB
We don’t have much to worry about with the rain this 4th of July and over the weekend. There is a very minor chance of a shower today through Thursday (the 4th) night. The NWS pegs it at 20% today and tonight and 30% for the 4th between 2-8pm.
What we are looking at is the standard stray summer shower, not any kind of an organized system. The forecast model that I just checked had a few blobs pop up south of Hwy 64 for tomorrow, all in the lowest precip range, 0.01 to 0.1″. The HPC QPF did not predict any rain at all.
I’d expect generally nice weather with upper 70s for highs and low 60s for lows today and for the 4th. We can bump those temps up about 5 degrees for Friday and the weekend.
It looks like it will be a good holiday for the area. Some people stayed after the weekend, and I have been seeing steadily increasing traffic over the past two days. It will be good to see more people in the area and having them catch good weather and plenty of events.
The event calendar from last week hasn’t changed much. The only addition that I have at the moment is an event in Crooked Lake on the 6th. A n updated copy of that calendar is below.
I saw in the paper that the Marinette Co OWI Task force will be out around the High Falls/Twin Bridge area again on Saturday the 6th. That goes with them targeting that area pretty much on any busy weekend for the past year or so.
If you are in the area you can still go out, just be smart about it. Use designated drivers and make sure that the car is in good shape. Many businesses will arrange for rides home or even round trip rides. Most bars & restaurants are part of the Safe Ride program where a ride home is free.
The get-wet season is here. No matter if you like rafting, tubing, boating, or hitting the beach, it’s time. As always I will tell you, to go to Kosir’s. They have rafting on two rivers, lazy river tubing, sit on top kayaks on Caldron Falls Flowage, and now pontoon boat cruises on the flowage too. The top beaches right around here are Boat Landing 9, Newton Lake, and Twin Bridge Park, but there are dozens of other spots around the area.
The whitewater rafting is above average right now. Last week’s storms really charged up the rivers. The Peshtigo is running at 460cfs (+4), well above its mean flow of 272. Likewise the Menominee has been running a pretty steady 2,00cfs this week well above its mean of 1670.
Gas prices have tumbled 40-50 cents in the last month. Yesterday I paid 3.51 in Lakewood and the Silver Cliff BP was priced the same. I checked Wisconsingasprices.com and found pretty similar prices from Milwaukee north.
I checked Mequon, Sheboygan, and Green Bay and they were all in a range of about 3.48-3.51. The lowest price in Prescott, WI (3.23) doesn’t count, they are near the Twin Cities. There were a few places in the Milwaukee and Kenosha area still showing gas under 3.30 a gallon. This might be one of those times where you save a few bucks by heading north with a full tank.
There are a lot of upcoming events in July. I will be getting on top of those after the weekend. I can tell you that next weekend brings the Athelstane Fireman’s Picnic and the Lakewood Mardi Gras celebration. The Bear Point Yacht Club is having the first of their three Menominee River Float Trips the 13th (the others are on the 27th and August 3rd), and I will have details on that.
That is going to wrap it up for me for today. Have a fun and safe weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB
4th of July week/weekend Event Calendar
July 3&4
4th of July Celebration at Zippel Park in Gillette
Tractor pull, Horse Pull,4×4 Truck Pull, Live Music
PARADE starts at 2:00 PM & FIREWORKS at dusk
Classic antique car show 9:00 AM –4:00 PM at Zippel Park
– See more at: http://www.ocontocounty.org/events/?i=4th-of-july-celebration-2013-07-03&d=2013-06&view=l#sthash.iYMNzUD3.dpuf
Thursday July 4th
Crivitz 4th of July Parade and Celebration – Thursday July 4th @ 11:00am, Farmers & Flea Market after the Parade at John Shaffer Pavilion… Food by VFW Post #2063 – Beverages & DJ Music by American Legion, Free Horse Drawn Wagon Rides & Bouncy Houses Fireworks at 10pm
Friday July 5th
Fundraiser Street Dance at Goodman Fire Hall 7-11pm -grilled burgers n brats, Bucket Raffles, music by Duct Tabe (Cest La vie)
July 5th-7th
Crivitz Adult Men’s Slow Pitch Softball Tournament will be held at baseball field at intersection of Louisa Street and Hall Avenue on Friday evening and all day Saturday. To register your team contact Dale at (715)927-1909 or Alex at (715)927-3181.
Saturday July 6th
Wausaukee Rec Assn Firecracker 5K run– Benefits area youth sports programs. Info on Wausaukee.com
Wausaukee 4th of July Celebration– Parade at 1pm, food, trout pond, music, beer garden, crafters and vendors
Twin Bridge Water Ski Show & Fireworks at Stephenson Town Park on High Falls Flowage 6:30pm
Crivitz Ski Cats Water Ski Show & Fireworks at Lake Noquebay County Park 6:30pm***
Friends of Chute Pond Celebration at Everbreeze Resort Music by Renage Band 3-7, fireworks at dark
***Goodman 4th of July Family Fest at Township Park on Hilbert Lake-10a-7pm- Bucket Raffles, games and face painting for the kids, 1pm flag retirement ceremony, Fireworks at dusk, bring a non-perishable food item for the food pantry.
Goodman Armstrong Creek Rescue Walk/Run-8am, starts at Ranger Station west of Goodman
Kid’s Fishing Tournament at Birch Hills Resort
——————————-
Thursday June 27th, 2013
2:30pm Update
Paddler’s Alert!
Last night the Peshtigo River watershed saw an estimated 2-5″ of rain, and there are big storms up there again right now. Last night they had flood advisories out for the watershed. There is no question that the Peshtigo will have good rafting and rising water levels this weekend. Call Kosir’s and get in on some great summer rafting.
The flood advisory from my Facebook post last night..
“ESTIMATES BASED ON RADAR INDICATED THAT 3 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN AN AREA BOUNDED BY GAGEN… ARGONNE… LAONA… AND CRANDON. THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL…ESTIMATED AT NEARLY 5 INCHES…FELL MID-WAY BETWEEN CRANDON AND ARGONNE.”
Here are last night’s radar estimates.
That is pretty good, but here is the current radar, and the storms are going across the watershed like they are on a train track. This will be great for weekend paddling.
Overnight Update
Greetings and welcome!
Thank you for all of the compliments on the desktop background last week. I liked that one too and it is still my background. For you photographers.. I did it at a F22, 1/5th of a second at an ISO100. In short, it was a slow shutter speed and a steady hand.
So it looks like I didn’t need an ark this week. The really heavy rain went to the southern 1/3 of WI and the northern 1/3 of IL. One friend from northern IL suggested that he should sell his house quickly since lakefront property brings a higher price.
It was a tough pattern to call. The whole region was in warm wet air, and it was just a question of where some convection would get started and bring storms.
We did get some rain. We had close to an inch last Friday morning. There was a good downpour yesterday (Tue) morning that developed pretty much right over us. I could hear it on the roof before it showed up on radar. Tonight (Wed) we had a good line of storms come through that even had a few cracks of thunder with it. Between the three we are close to an inch and a half of rain for the past week.
A lot of people ignored the soggy weekend forecast last weekend and headed up north. They were well rewarded. In my travels we only had a few sprinkles Saturday afternoon, and those only lasted a minute or two. That is why I tell you to not change plans over a forecast. Be prepared for the rain, but don’t cancel on account of a forecast. I have seen a lot of nasty sounding weekends turn out great.
The warm and sticky weather is just about over. We have another day of high dew points, and after that we should be in for a very comfortable weekend with temps in the mid-70s. We have a chance of rain Thursday and Friday, and a 40% chance Saturday. I am not expecting a lot out of Saturday’s rain, in theory, the atmosphere will be pretty well worked over by then from the Thursday and Friday rain. Sunday looks nice.
The 4th of July lands on Thursday of next week. As always there are a lot of events going on with it, but with the mid-week placement, they are scattered across the week and two weekends.
I spent a few hours tonight scouring papers and web sites to bring you a comprehensive event list. If I missed anything, leave a comment and I will add it. Here we go…
*** Indicates fireworks show
### Indicates parade
Friday June 30
Marinette County Breakfast on the Farm. Sunday, June 30, 2013. Church service at the farm 7:00a.m. Event 7:30a.m. – Noon. Mark & Dawn Carviou farm, W3201 County Road G, Marinette, WI. Petting zoo, face painting, balloons, kids bouncy play area, viewing of barns & cattle, wagon rides, music
Saturday June 29th
***Mountain 4th of July Celebration-Softball, Horseshoe, and Pool tournaments, biunce house Fireworks at dusk
Red Arrow ATV & Snowmobile Club Family Fun Day_Birch Hills Resort in Townsend-Club meeting 9am, trail ride 10am-1pm, fundraiser 1-5pm- Meat raffles, DJ- Fundraiser benefits Townsend Christian Fod Pantry and 2 Wabeno HS scholarships
4H Brat Fry to benefit the Grover-Porterfield VFD- 10:30am-1pm at the Porterfield Pit Stop
July 3&4
***###
4th of July Celebration at Zippel Park in Gillette
Tractor pull, Horse Pull,4×4 Truck Pull, Live Music
PARADE starts at 2:00 PM & FIREWORKS at dusk
Classic antique car show 9:00 AM –4:00 PM at Zippel Park
– See more at: http://www.ocontocounty.org/events/?i=4th-of-july-celebration-2013-07-03&d=2013-06&view=l#sthash.iYMNzUD3.dpuf
Thursday July 4th
### ***Crivitz 4th of July Parade and Celebration – Thursday July 4th @ 11:00am, Farmers & Flea Market After the Parade at John Shaffer Pavilion… Food by VFW Post #2063 – Beverages & DJ Music by American Legion, Free Horse Drawn Wagon Rides & Bouncy Houses Fireworks at 10pm
Friday July 5th
Fundraiser Street Dance at Goodman Fire Hall 7-11pm -grilled burgers n brats, Bucket Raffles, music by Duct Tabe (Cest La vie
July 5th-7th
Crivitz Adult Men’s Slow Pitch Softball Tournament will be held at baseball field at intersection of Louisa Street and Hall Avenue on Friday evening and all day Saturday. To register your team contact Dale at (715)927-1909 or Alex at (715)927-3181.
Saturday July 6th
***Friends of Chute Pond Celebration at Everbreeze Resort Music by Renage Band 3-7, fireworks at dark
***Goodman 4th of July Family Fest at Township Park on Hilbert Lake-10a-7pm- Bucket Raffles, games and face painting for the kids, 1pm flag retirement ceremony, Fireworks at dusk, bring a non-perishable food item for the food pantry.
Goodman Armstrong Creek Rescue Walk/Run-8am, starts at Ranger Station west of Goodman
Wausaukee Rec Assn Firecracker 5K run- Benefits area youth sports programs. Info on Wausaukee.com
###Wausaukee 4th of July Celebration- Parade at 1pm, food, trout pond, music, beer garden, crafters and vendors
***Twin Bridge Water Ski Show & Fireworks at Stephenson Town Park on High Falls Flowage 6:30pm
***Crivitz Ski Cats Water Ski Show & Fireworks at Lake Noquebay County Park 6:30pm
Kid’s Fishing Tournament at Birch Hills Resort
——————————-
When I went for a sunset ride last night there were plenty of deer. There were numerous E stops as they ran out in front of me. I was ready for it and didn’t bump any.
There were also more than a few birds along the road shoulder. I am not sure what they were, but their eyes reflected in the headlights, and they could fly pretty fast when they jumped. My guess is that they were woodcocks. The second guess was whippoorwills, but there was no trademark song, and usually they are pretty vocal.
When I was driving home in the heavy rain last Thursday night I saw at least a half-dozen paper plate sized or bigger snapping turtles up on the road on a journey to lay eggs. I have seen three or four since, but they were all smaller. One was a little puzzling, he was at least a mile from the closest pond/creek/river/lake. That is a long way at turtle velocity.
The warm weather has brought time to get wet at the beaches and tubing down the river. Now the lakes and rivers are much warmer after the recent warm spell that went into the high 80s a few times. Time to jump in!
I always like to exit on a high note, and I have a good one today. From what I am seeing in the news, gas prices should be in the $3.50- $3.60 range over the holiday. That is still a dollar too high, but it is about 50 cents a gallon better than it was last week. It’s a start.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB