2014

Sunday 9/7/14

Greetings and welcome!

In my limited travels I have seen minimal damage from last week’s storm. Yesterday when I went up to Benson Lake Rd on Parkway (Hwy I), there were only a couple of trees down here and there. The ride back down Harper and Old J found the same thing. There were a couple down between Old J and F along Hwy C.

The heavy rain caused a lot of gravel road edges and places with gradient to was out little gulleys. That was the majority of storm damage that I saw up there.

I suspect that there is more damage south. There were reports of trees down in Crooked Lake and a TV news report showed some in Crivitz too.

Yes Shaffer’s Restaurant near Crivitz did burn down. It was the chicken place for a lot of people. They haven’t declared it a total loss yet, but it is pretty badly damaged. It is not clear if it was lightning from the big storms or another source that started the fire. They are still working on that.  There was a lot of powerful lightning with the storm, so it is certainly a possibility.

http://www.wbay.com/story/26457070/2014/09/05/update-heavy-fire-damage-at-marinette-county-supper-club

It was a cool one last night, with a low of 43. I actually started a small fire in the wood burner that morning to take the chill off. That might happen again soon, later in the week we are looking at a chance of highs in the mid 50s and a shot at some frost, or at least pretty cold nights.

On that note, I am off to cut some firewood while it is still 70 & sunny.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday September 4th, 2014

Greetings and welcome!

We had a couple of strong lines of storms pass through the region in the last 24 hours. There has been a lot of red, yellow, and orange on the radar, and tonight’s sunset was a little orange too.

Last night’s storm looked ugly on radar, and brought heavy rain and lightning. I think that it was after midnight when the strong stuff cleared the area. Other than some gravel washout on the driveway there was no obvious damage here or in my travels to work In Wausaukee.

Late this morning a really nasty line of storms developed and came our way. I checked the radar summary and it showed cloud tops up to 50 and 60,000 feet. A 12 mile high cloud top? Yowza! That is really big. It was almost as dark as night for at least an hour in Wausaukee. It poured, the wind blew pretty good, and there was even some hail.

This is a hail chunk from near the High Line Bar in Middle Inlet.

That will issue a dent or two.

There was a lot of lightning and some strong winds with the storm. There were some straight line winds over 50 and 60 mph that took down trees and knocked out power for thousands.

My reports had power out in Crooked Lake, Crivitz, and Middle Inlet after the noon storm. There were many other outages, those were just the ones that I heard about.

When I got home around 6 the power was out here near C & F in Silver Cliff, though the gas station and Jungle Jim’s still had power. I am currently on Honda power, and the electric company expects power restoration about noon tomorrow. As of 9pm they still have over 700 outages and 31,000 people out of power. The line crews will be very busy over the next few days.

I heard a report of trees down in Crooked Lake. On Perch Lake Rd between here and Wausaukee there were probably a dozen spots where trees or branches had fallen in the road and been cleaned up. From A west to about a mile east of Parkway there were maybe three trees that showed damage. There were a couple of small trees down in one yard about a mile east of Parkway.

A third line of storms came through tonight after work, but that was just some rain and a few rumbles of thunder. We only scored dark green on the radar. The strong stuff stayed south.

This was all the product of a couple of fronts. Last night’s deluge was a warm front, and you could see the moisture feeding into it on radar. Today’s lines were in advance of a cold front coming out of MN. That will bring nice weather for tomorrow and the weekend.

The heavy rains last weekend and again this week really have added up. A wild guess would be around 6″, and I’d easily except a little bit larger number. At any rate the rivers have really come up. The Peshtigo River was at +5″ today, and still has a couple of heavy storms of water on the way. That river will be exceptionally good for whitewater rafting this weekend. Likewise the Menominee River was over 3,300cfs today and there is a lot more water coming.

I expect to get more damage reports tomorrow and get a better handle on things.

RJB

8/28/2014

Greetings and welcome!

It sure would be nice to rewrite this weekend’s forecast. Right now it looks a little soggy.

Right now it looks like rain Friday Friday night and into Saturday, and a nice day Sunday, with more rain for Monday. I’d like to soft sell it as an occasional shower, but that isn’t the case here.

From 7pm (CST) tonight to 7pm Friday night the QPF is 0.5-0.75″.

From 7pm Friday night to 7pm Saturday night the outlook is for 1.25-1.5″ of rain.

From 7pm Saturday to 7pm Sunday the outlook is for no rain ad a really nice day.

From 7pm Sunday to 7pm Tuesday we are looking at another 0.5-0.75″, primarily on Monday.

The hook on Monday’s outlook is that they backed off a little on rainfall potential since last night’s forecast. We were looking at 1-2″ Monday. It could change again. It IS a 4 day forecast.

Now.. a couple of thoughts here..

First of all, if it were winter, and we were staring down the barrel of the same set of storms and 36-48″ of snow over the next four days, I would be extremely skeptical. The same thing applies here.

If all goes well and the NWS forecast is on track, the best chance of rain will exit the area by 1pm Saturday. That would leave us Saturday afternoon, followed by a sunny and 75 day for Sunday.

My plan is to stuff as much weekend into the next couple of days as I can. If I can’t be outside there is stuff to do inside too. A drive in the woods on a rainy day is always fun, and the depth of the green and a little mist or rain in the trees can be very scenic..

These aren’t the first rain storms that we have had recently. Both the Peshtigo and Menominee Rivers are running a little above normal. With fairly wet soil and a shot at heavy rain Friday and Friday night, they might spike up for Saturday and Sunday. The Menominee is already well into the fun zone running between 1,400 and 2,200cfs. The Peshtigo is on the low side but runnable, and one good rain away from piking up over 300cfs.

That would also suggest that the many waterfalls around here would be worthy of a visit.

I listen to a UP radio station on the way to work, and a few days ago they were talking about the first fall colors were being spotted here and there. There are already some ferns and underbrush going yellow around here too. I’d expect to see the first early maples soon.

It has been a strange summer. There have been no 100 degree days, one or to in the 90s, and most were pretty pleasant. There was a little bit of a dry stretch, but we are doing ok for rainfall. When I think of July and August I expect hot weather and 90s. This 75-80 degree stuff is ok by me.

The road crews have been busy this summer.

Highway 141 through Wausaukee is still one lane at the bridge by Highway C. Northbound is one lane, southbound is detoured through a residential area and rejoins 141S at Highway 180. The good news is that they are on the second half of the project.

Highway C from F west to the county line has been repaved, and there are guardrails in a few spots. It was about the worst goat path in the county, and now is pretty smooth.

Highway A from Crivitz north to C was tar and pea graveled about a week ago. It is pretty clean but there is still some loose stuff at intersections and in spots.

Highway C From A & C to Wausaukee has a new double coat of blacktop and is smooth. They were finishing up filling the shoulders this week. They even put curbs in along the road in Athelstane.

It seems that the turkeys are having a good year. It is rare for a day to go by without me seeing a flock of young following a hen or two along the road. Some of them have 10 or more little ones following along.

Here is the current event list-

August 30
Red Arrow Annual Corn Roast and ATV Parade – Valley Inn, Townsend
ATV Parade at 10:30 am from Townsend Shell to Valley Inn – Meat Raffles, Food & Refreshments
Hosted by the Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club – Proceeds go to trail maintenance

August 30
Amberg 34th Annual Fireman’s Picnic & Parade
Parade at 11am to Fireman’s Park, Water Fights, Demonstrations, Children’s Games
Food & Refreshments, Live Music, Raffles, Horseshoes

August 30
Crooked Lake Fire Department Breakfast.

August 30
Annual Corn Roast & Family Fun Day – Townsend Town Hall
starts at 11 AM – Children’s Games, Music, Food & Drink, Raffles & Prizes
Sponsored by the Townsend Flowage Assoc.Riverview Fire Department Annual Corn Roast and Picnic, 9am.

Aug. 31, 2014
Lakewood Firefighter’s 29th Annual Picnic

The hornet’s nest finally was defeated. I hit it a second time with better wasp & hornet spray, and a couple of days later it was down to a couple of active hornets. I hit it again and knocked it down. Now I understand. It had three brood combs, and at least a dozen young ready to emerge. Once on the ground the brood combs made a tasty snack for some critter by morning.

The bad news is that I have another bigger nest about 15′ away in a hard to reach spot. I am not looking forward to that one. It might take the snowmobile helmet and suit routine when I get that one.

Well that is news for today. Hopefully I will be back sooner than two weeks this time.

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

RJB

Thursday 8/14/1014

Greetings and welcome!

We have continued to enjoy normal or cooler than normal weather in August. When I think of July and August and I think of hot weather. The sun is still plenty warm, but it has remained reasonable with daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s. So far we haven’t had any real stretches of 90+ weather or humidity.

It has been very common to go outside in the morning to a heavy dew. It almost feels like September or October in the morning, especially with overnight lows in the low and mid-40s.

We were getting a little dry here for a while, but we had a good rain Monday night. A storm stalled to our east, and Monday night an area of rain camped over us for pretty much the whole night. It was just one blob that kept getting reinforced. The end result around here was between an inch and an inch and a half of rain.

The nice weather will continue, though we have a 50% chance of rain for Saturday. Highs in the upper 70s or low 80s are in store for Friday and Saturday, and mid-70s and sunny for Sunday.

Here are some upcoming events..

Aug. 16
The Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club fundraiser
Animal’s Bear Trail Inn, Mountain – noon to 6pm
Raffles, food & beverages – All proceeds from this event will go toward maintaining current ATV trails/routes and creating new ATV trails/routes in the townships of Doty, Riverview and Lakewood in Oconto County

Aug. 14 – 17
Oconto County Fair – Zippel Park, Gillett
Demolitionderbies, horse, truck and tractor pulls, animal judging, exhibits, bands, family entertainment and carnival.

August 21 – 24
Marinette County Fair – County Fair Grounds, Wausaukee
Demoliton derbies, horse, truck and tractor pulls, animal judging, exhibits, bands, family entertainment and carnival

August 30
Red Arrow Annual Corn Roast and ATV Parade – Valley Inn, Townsend
ATV Parade at 10:30 am from Townsend Shell to Valley Inn – Meat Raffles, Food & Refreshments
Hosted by the Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club – Proceeds go to trail maintenance

August 30
Amberg 34th Annual Fireman’s Picnic & Parade
Parade at 11am to Fireman’s Park, Water Fights, Demonstrations, Children’s Games
Food & Refreshments, Live Music, Raffles, Horseshoes

August 30
Crooked Lake Fire Department Breakfast.

August 30
Annual Corn Roast & Family Fun Day – Townsend Town Hall
starts at 11 AM – Children’s Games, Music, Food & Drink, Raffles & Prizes
Sponsored by the Townsend Flowage Assoc.Riverview Fire Department Annual Corn Roast and Picnic, 9am.

Aug. 31, 2014
Lakewood Firefighter’s 29th Annual Picnic

As I started to get ready to do firewood again last week, I stopped at the entrance to the wood shed when I saw this overhead.

I wasn’t all that surprised, it is an annual thing. Last year it was the back steps, the year before it was the work shed and the air conditioner.

I went outside Tuesday night and blasted it with a can of cheapskate store wasp and hornet spray into the front, and another half a can soaking the side that I could get to. Imagine my surprise when I went outside tonight to work and it was as busy of a nest as ever. I think that I need better bee freeze.

The top wildlife sighting recently happened Sunday in the Nicolet Forest near Lakewood. I was driving along when a hawk jumped up out of the ditch carrying a snake. I slammed on the brakes and probably just grazed the tail of the snake. As I watched the hawk fly away with his dinner, I am thinking now there is something that you don’t see every day.

Well, time to get back to work. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB