Greetings and welcome!
You know that you are in northern Wisconsin when you have 6+ inches of snow on Friday and 73 and sunny on Monday.
Winter made one last stand last week and should almost be put to rest. Almost. There is a chance of a little snow with the storm bearing down on us, but not much is expected.
Anyway, we had a really nice warm day Monday. I saw thermometers in Iron Mountain and in Wausaukee that said 73 mid-afternoon. It sure felt nice. On the way home there was even a summer like cloud burst where it rained really hard for about a mile, and then it was done.
Since then it has cooled off a little, and we had a high of 57 and a low of 21 today. The 57 is right on normal, but the normal low is 33.
In spite of the cold nights the frost out is coming right along. The sunny areas of the driveway and yard are firming up. The snow is pretty much gone around here except in the shaded spots. Farther north up by Hwy 8 there is more snow remaining in the woods, but it has been taken down a lot, and again is only remaining in shaded spots. People are still parking at the end of soft driveways, but the sunny ones like mine are finally firming up.
For now..
We have a storm on the horizon that could bring 0.75-1″ of rain by Friday. It looks like a decent rain producer, so it could be more in some areas.
That will bode very well for the whitewater rafters and paddlers. The Peshtigo River is already heading for +20 and it is soon to be well beyond. When I was up in the upper watershed today the Pesh was pretty swollen and the low areas held water. Add an inch of rain tomorrow and tomorrow night, and I’d expect a very good weekend for whitewater on the Peshtigo River.
People have been asking if lakes will break up and if ATV trails will open by the first weekend in May. My guess is that it will be a close one. Some warm sunny weather will go a long way, and a lot can change in ten days.
In my travels today, lakes in Lakewood, Townsend, and Laona all had solid lids on them. The ice looked distressed, but there was no open water at all.
The exception to this was High Falls Flowage. It looked like there was a channel opening up by Popp’s Resort, north of the X bridge, and a little downstream of the bridge.
Sunday when I saw Caldron Falls Flowage up by Landing 11 the river was open almost to the landing. There was also some water downstream of Landing 11, but I am not sure if it was open water or water on top of the ice. They dropped the flowage about 6′ to help break up the ice and be a shock absorber for any big river flows during the melt. That should help that lake along.
The Menominee River has been open by Bear Point for a couple of weeks now, and most other rivers are as well.
The ATV trails will also be a close call. There are areas that are already drying out nicely, and around the corner there is 6+ inches of snow in the woods. They seem to be coming along better than I expected, but they will need some time yet.
I saw my first really green grass today along a ditch in Wausaukee. It was good to see something beyond drab or snow.
The spring has brought a lot of wildlife sightings. The most recent was another turkey strutting and displaying his feathers. That is probably the third sighting like that in the past week.
The guys that make maple syrup have been at it for a few weeks now. I don’t know that much about it, but it looked like the maple in the front yard was running pretty good today where it was cut.
So far I haven’t seen much of the insect kingdom’s big return. Sightings right now are limited to a few white moths.
The frogs in the pond started up last weekend. By Monday night they were very loud, and I can hear them through the walls & closed windows now.
We have a storm coming in for tomorrow and tomorrow night. There will be some wind, some heavier waves of rain, and maybe even a little snow. It is expected to clear out Friday, leaving us a clear weekend with a high and low temperature of about 48/28. There is a another good sized storm moving in for Sunday night and Monday. We could see increasing clouds Sunday afternoon, and we should watch for changes in the timing of the storm.
That is about news for tonight, Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB