November 2017

Thursday 11-30-17

Greetings and welcome!

The past few weeks have found me insanely busy trying to make a living. I am acutely aware that things slow down a lot once the snow and cold comes, so I am getting what I can.

Looking at the DNR numbers it looks like the 2017 deer hunt was up a little in Forest and Marinette Co, and down slightly in Oconto Co. In my travels I though that I heard more shooting than the past few years.

The lakes are slowly freezing up. They make ice overnight and loose some when the sun comes up and it goes over 40. When I drove by Waubee Lake yesterday it had thin ice over about 80% of the lake with the shoreline open between the Beech Club and Waubee Lake Lodge. I could see the different areas where it froze at different times. Going over the Hwy X bridge yesterday I saw very thin ice trying to make it out of the bays, but the sun probably ate it later in the day.

I did see on Facebook where a couple of guys walked a short way out on one of the bays and did a little fishing. Sheltered bays should have an inch or two of ice, but danger Will Robinson. It hasn’t been all that cold lately.

I have an event for this weekend, an antique snowmobile show. This one is always the first Saturday in December, and it used to be held at the Gateway Bar in Crivitz. This year they moved it a few miles north to the Middle Inlet Fire Department at Hwy 141 & Hwy X.

They have some awesome old sleds there. I have been to this show many times and hope to make it again Saturday.

Just a few miles west on Hwy X Koch’s Performance will be having an open house. They have an amazing collection of vintage Yamaha snowmobiles there, including quite a few classic racers. According to their facebook post they will be having some of the old time great Yamaha racers there along with the sleds that they raced. It is a vintage snowmobile double header, and a real treat for old Yamaha fans.

Looking ahead at the weather snowmobilers don’t have a lot to get excited about in the next 9 days. We will mostly be in the upper 30s through the weekend. There is a storm for early next week, but I’d expect that to be mostly rain. It does show it cooling down next week so at least we will advance the ice on lakes and the frost in the ground.

The TV showed a quick snow coming Friday night a little after midnight. It looked like it could be an inch of accumulation. The NWS does not mention it, and my forecast models only show a little snow up by Lake Superior.

This is being cross posted between the NorthernDestinations blog and the Big Snow Page. After December 1 I will put the NorthernDestinations blog into hibernation for the winter and start updating on the Big Snow Page. Eventually that will turn into just about daily updates once we get close to the season. With no snow likely for over a week I need to focus on other things like finishing my cars, plow truck, and firewood. When it gets close to being time to snowmobile or if any snow storms come I will be right there.

That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday 11-16-17 Deer Hunting Update 1

Thursday night 8pm

Greetings and welcome!

We have a lot to talk about tonight.

There are already quite a few deer hunters in the area, the roads are already getting busy. The deer are running stupid and frequently bound out in front of the car. Ideally that means that they are still in rut, a bonus for hunters. I don’t know about the rut part, but they are definitely running out into the roads  a lot, especially around sunset and for a couple of hours after.

The weather is going to be a factor this weekend. We had a big storm in the forecast that had potential for a good amount of snow. That has changed. Right now my model guidance shows rain moving in Friday afternoon or evening and being somewhat short lived. There cou;ld be a little snow on the back of the storm. The biggest issue that I see on the models is that Saturday will be a cold windy day behind the storm Saturday. Sunday will be a little calmer but cold. Here is the NWS take on it..

Wednesday 11-8-17

Greetings and welcome!

We have been seeing some tough weather for outside work this fall season. Our normal high temperature today is in the upper 40s, and we have been lucky to get out of the 30s. I have seen this cartoon before.. It stays 10-15 degrees below normal until normal is in the low 30s and then it catches up and we end up getting cheated out of some nice 45-50 degree days. I guess that is the plan for this year.

We have also had rain or snow every weekend since the beginning of October, and it looks like that trend will continue too. Add in daylight savings time where the sun sets at 4:15 and it is a challenge getting outside work done.

The recent cold weather has started making the first ice on lakes and marshes. The ice on a friend’s small backyard pond was 1/2″ thick yesterday, and lakes are making first ice too. That will get a lot thicker later this week. We are expecting an inch or so of snow tonight, followed by a high temp of 26 for Thursday, but temps will crater to the upper teens late in the day. Thursday night we are expecting temps to get down to 8 degrees, followed by a high of 25 Friday. The weekend should get into the mid-30s, but there is a snow chance for Saturday night into Sunday.

Protect your plumbing.. Normally I don’t have to start the heater in the pump house and plumbing heat tape until after Thanksgiving, but it looks like this year it will come early. It is ok if it gets into the upper teens overnight if the days on either side will be over 40. Thursday night’s forecast is for a low of 8 degrees surrounded by 25 degree days. That won’t cut it, so it is time to protect the plumbing.

This year the calendar has a lot of stuff earlier than normal. This year’s deer gun season starts a week from Saturday, on 11-18. That seems like it is a week early, but it is just the way that the calendar falls. If you recall the Silver Cliff Soup & Chili Fest seemed like it was a weekend early too.

One late addition.. watch for the deer out in the road. It is that time of year, and there are plenty of them by roadsides and in the road after sunset. Last night I didn’t even get two miles and I counted almost 10 deer out on the roads, a couple at a time.

The snow from last weekend’s 6″ snowfall mostly melted away Sunday and Monday. Not all of it is gone though, there are still patches in shaded spots and snow piles along roads are still there. The ground is frozen, so any snow that we get tonight and Saturday night should start accumulating.

I don’t see a lot of mercy in the long term forecast. It looks like winter is coming early this year.

Time to get back to work. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Saturday 11-4-17

Greetings and welcome!

We got 6″ of wet heavy snow last night. It is melting fast but is still a big mess. Visit the Big Snow Page (Link) for lots of updates and pictures.

RJB