June 2017

Thursday 6-15-17

Greetings and welcome!
Yesterday evening I took a ride down to Crooked Lake. I have some friends down there I needed to check places for. On the way down LaFave Rd There wasn’t much before the curve where the snowmobile/ATV/Pipeline trail crosses it.

The next few miles I started seeing the occasional tree down. About where the paved road starts a couple of miles north of town there were a lot more trees down. I only went about 1/2way through town, but there were a couple of big trees down and a guy’s awning/carport tent got trashed.

That is about it for storm reports for today.

I offer to check on people’s places because I know how it is. Before I moved here I drove the locals nuts when heavy weather came through and I was stuck downstate. Don’t hesitate to ask.

I got a call from Climber’s Anonymous Tree Service yesterday afternoon. They are doing just a ton of storm cleanups, but are still taking work. He said that Friday he is bringing in a 130 foot crane for some big cleanups. It will be near Waubee Lake, then to C & F where a giant tree fell on a cabin, and then down to Parkway & X where they got hit the hardest. If you have big work for the crane or need cleanup, call them.

I also do a web site for Panske Trim-A-Tree Tree Service in Marinette. If you have tree damage from 141 east to the lake give them a call.

Some friends that visit the area had a place down in Pulaski where a real tornado hit. I saw pictures and it is ugly down there.

Anyway, hopefully we are about done with severe weather for this week. It was a heck of a week with areas getting tree damage and in some spots 3+ inches of rain. Highways washed out on and on. I am glad that it is done.

The weekend forecast hasn’t changed much. There is a 20% chance of rain Friday and 30% Friday night. Those are just scattered instability storms that happen in summer.

Saturday the chances go up to 50% as the day progresses. There is a fairly weak area of low pressure that will pass over the area Saturday night. There could be a shower or storm in advance of it Saturday afternoon with the daytime heating.

Saturday night the low gets here and there is a good chance of rain or storms 70%. Once it moves out early Sunday morning chances will go down as the day progresses.

Today looks like the hottest day, a scorcher with 87 & some humidity. The hi/low temperatures for the weekend are Friday 85/60, Saturday 82/60, and Sunday 73/53.

When I ran to the post office this morning I saw that the white daisies are making a big show along roadsides. There were long patches of them in the ditch for much of my ride. There are yellow ones too, and something that looks like wild mustard is in bloom in the fields.

The bugs have been about normal for this year. A stop in the Nicolet to do this picture yesterday evening quickly found me swarmed by gators. Other than that some small flies that bite right through my socks hit me a few times while I was changing my water pump. Bring Repel. I use the Sportsman 40.

Back to the storm damage briefly..

While I was in the Nic I saw that North Fork Creek had really risen a lot, You can see that there is still grass under water, but more impressive is the grass laid down from when the water was a foot higher. It must have been a pretty good flash flood.

I also saw on Facebook yesterday that someone posted a picture from Dockside Bar showing the docks under water and like 20 feet from dry land.

Normally they have very tightly managed water level on the flowages. The Peshtigo River is abnormally high, so they had to release extra water from Caldron Falls Flowage.

Speaking of the Peshtigo River being abnormally high.. The whitewater rafting this weekend will be exceptional. The normal flow today is 472cfs, great fun in a raft or funyak. The most recent value is 1,910cfs, smashing the 19 year record of 1090cfs back in ’02.

It looks like the river peaked yesterday at about a +37 or +38″. Normally it would be at about +6″. Today we are at about a +30 and it should be about a +26 for the weekend.

That means that they will be running spring rafts with 6+ people and a guide in them.  It is very unusual to get water this high in summer, and a lot of years it doesn’t get this high in spring with the snow melt. If you want to see why the Peshtigo is world famous without walking through snow or dealing with cold air and water, here is a rare chance to do so. Call Kosir’s. 715-757-3431.

Yesterday I was at the Caldron Falls Bar taking pictures for a new web site. Dann had just taken a batch of ribs off of the smoker. Oh man they looked good. I haven’t even tasted them and they are fat guy approved. Those just have to be amazing.

Darn it now I am hungry. Gotta run.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday 6-14-17

Greetings and welcome!

I went out and did some damage checks this morning. Most areas are fine. My route took me down Landing 11Rd to Caldron Falls Rd to Thunder Mountain Rd, the subdivision around the Thunder Mountain Valley Inn, east on Thunder Mt Rd, and north on Parkway to C and west back home.

Landing 11 had 3 trees or branches down between C and the town line, none threatening buildings. It was ok down to Thunder Mt Ranch. They had a couple of trees down just north of their main driveway and occasional trees down for the next mile or so going south.

There were a couple of branches down at Thunder Mt Rd & Caldron Falls Rd, no big deal. Two of the cabins right by Thunder Mountain Valley Inn took trees to the roof. One is right at the intersection of Huigen Rd and the bar, one is right across the parking lot from the bar.

There was one big branch down on Thunder Mt Rd a mile east of there.

Going north on Parkway there were a couple of trees down on either side of Kamps Rd, none threatening structures. We were pretty good up to Curve Inn (Trixie’s). From there to the boat landing there were a few more trees down. At the boat Landing there were more trees down, and the guy on the SW corner of Dahleen Ln and Parkway, his yard was messed all of the way up with a lot of trees down. There were a couple more trees down between there and X.

North of X there was a tree down by Tall Oaks, no big deal. The next damage that I saw was a couple of trees damaged in the big pines across from Thornton’s and north a little. From there up to Bunny Bay Rd had a few more trees down.

Highway X going across the bridge from Parkway going east was closed. I know that Popp’s took some damage, it was probably about cleaning that up.

Heading north on Parkway from Bunny Bay there was one tree down just into Silver Cliff on Parkway. There was a branch by the road across from The Red Pine BP, and that was it for damage as I made the run home on C.

The ride was not uneventful. There were a couple of turtles laying eggs by Landing 11 Rd, a tiny fawn by Thunder Mt Valley Inn, and a bear about a mile east of there.

Events-

This weekend is the Muscle Maniac’s Car Show in Lakewood, the Nicolet Plastics Run/Walk, and live local music at the candy shop in Lakewood. You can get details on those events here.. http://www.ocontocounty.org/events/

The Thunder Mountain Valley Inn is having a birthday bash with a motorcycle ride, pig roast, and live music Saturday.

The Hilltop Resort is having a Father’s Day buffet for $12 on Sunday.

On Saturday the Caldron Falls Bar is having a benefit ride/poker run, followed by live music at 4pm.

That is all that I have for events at the moment.

The weekend weather looks OK but not perfect. The NWS has a 50% chance of rain Saturday. The GFS forecast model is showing just scattered showers and less than 0.25” of precip.

There is a small low pressure area that will track through the area Saturday night with a decent chance of showers or storms. Once that clears out Sunday should be nice. Look for high temps of 84 Friday, 79 Saturday, and 74 Sunday.

That is all that I have for today. Have a good Wednesday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

6-13-17 Late Update

Greeting & Welcome!

I got my water pump in tonight. I will be checking places near Caldron Falls Bar and Thunder Mountain Valley Inn tomorrow.

My trip from Silver Cliff to Carter and back found minor damage in a couple of areas, most of it you wouldn’t know there was a storm. There were a few trees down by Waubee Lake, mostly small or rotten. There were about 5 or 6 down between the golf course and Wheeler Lake Ln. Going up 32 you wouldn’t know that there was a storm.

More to follow tomorrow..

RJB

Tuesday Update 6-13-17

Greetings and welcome!

I have been staying close to home because of the failing water pump in my car. It was supposed to be here yesterday, but they dropped the ball on that and it is out for delivery today. At that point I have not been able to assess storm damage as I normally would. My car sounds pretty ugly so I have been really limiting my driving.

Yesterday I did go and check on a couple of places up by Old J and Harper Rd. They were fine. The damage seems to be south of here 5-10 miles and down to Crivitz and Hwy W. There were also reports of trees down in Mountain and Townsend, and I heard on Facebook that Crooked Lake took it hard.

Once my pump comes I will get a lot better look around.

Gary has a place by Caldron Falls Bar that I will be checking on once I get back on the road. Here is part of what he said..

We left the property just as the the 1st round storm hit and the power went out. Had just finished buttoning and covering everything up. Found we had to drive different routes to go south on 141. Found trees down by Twin bridge, on Thunder mountain road and Caldron falls road and county road P. Luckily could drive the shoulders to get by but boy were there a lot down.

Not good.

Beyond that most of the storm damage that I know of was already posted.

I did see that Hwy 8 washed out up by Cavour, where the highway turns from north to east coming out of Laona. You know that it was a good downpour if it washed out a state highway. A friend up there confirmed that the storms really brought a lot of rain. Radar estimates had that area for 3+ inches of rain.

As it would happen that area is in the Peshtigo River watershed. We are in for some huge water levels, and it is already starting.

When the rain started Sunday afternoon we were at about a +15″, huge for this time of year. As of this morning it is at a +30″ and rising. Our normal volume for today is 444cfs (Cubic Feet Per Second, 7.5 gallons per cubic foot). Today we are at 1,780, just over 4x the mean flow. The record high for today (19 years of records) is 773cfs.

Here is the interesting part.. that graph isn’t done going up, and thanks to the long narrow watershed, the really heavy rain from the far reaches of the watershed isn’t even here yet!

How high will it go? I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like it in my decades here. I know that it really takes a lot to get over about 24″. The river gets really wide when it gets that high and it takes a lot more water to add to the height. Based on the slope of the graph getting into the mid-30s looks pretty close to a lock.

Whatever the case, rafting is going to be insane this weekend. To paddle over 30″ of water at June temperatures is extremely rare. Don’t miss this one.

The Menominee River enters into this conversation too. They has radar returns that showed as much as 6″ of rain Sunday night. There was a huge highway washout up that way too. That river is running at a little over 9,000cfs. Sane people and outfitters usually stop running it at about 5-6,000cfs. I am not sure if they will be able to run that river this weekend or not. If it comes down enough, don’t miss out, that river is crazy fun over 4,000cfs.

As a photographer on the Peshtigo I much prefer the water down in the 800-1,200cfs range. People can take smaller rafts and funyaks, and there are more chances of wipeouts. When they run the big boats with a dozen people in them it is a lot less likely.

Last weekend we had pretty close to ideal water levels for me. The 3pm Saturday trip set some records. I kept telling people that even with a 3 year hiatus I have never been faster as an action sports photographer. Saturday I proved it. The specs were 190 people went through the rapid in 11 minutes. I took 573 pictures of them, averaging a picture every 1.15 seconds for 11 minutes straight. I have never seen anything like it, but I brought it home. Here is a sequence that was too fun not to post..

Last Saturday was a good day to get wet. The car thermometer got as high as 89ºF. The strong winds helped with the heat and humidity, and kept the mosquitoes down a lot too.

Ut-Oh.. The clock says that I need to post this and come back later to finish up.

Be back soon..

RJB